What to look for in nature in Washington this May

Where can you see puffins and auklets in Washington in May?

• Rhinoceros auklets on Protection Island

  Seattle Audubon's BirdWeb rates it common on inland marine waters April through August and on the outer coast May through August · Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the water around the Salish Sea

  The refuge describes Protection Island as holding the third largest rhinoceros auklet colony in North America, and says about 70 percent of the Salish Sea's breeding seabirds nest there. BirdWeb adds that Washington has over 60,000 of these birds, concentrated in three colonies: Protection, Destruction and Smith islands. The birds dig burrows that can run 20 feet, lay a single egg at the end, and are nocturnal around the colony, which is why you rarely see them on land. On the water they are chunky, dark diving birds that can stay under for up to two minutes. A good May plan is a slow scan of calm water from a ferry rail or a shoreline pullout, looking for small dark divers with a pale bill and a horn at its base.

• Tufted puffins, rare and endangered

  The state's page puts the breeding season at mid-April to early September · Island colonies off the northern outer coast and in the eastern strait

  WDFW lists the tufted puffin as endangered in Washington. The minimum population estimate fell from 23,342 birds in 1978 to 1982 to 2,958 birds in 2009, and only 19 of 44 historical breeding sites were still occupied. The agency says the cause is uncertain, with reduced prey, predators at nesting colonies, disturbance and climate change all on its list of possible factors. Puffins also nest in burrows, again with a single egg. A puffin sighting in Washington is a record worth reporting: WDFW asks for a photo and exact coordinates through its wildlife observation form.

• Watching without disturbing

  Year-round rules, but they matter most in the nesting season · Boats near Protection Island and anywhere seals, sea lions or whales are present

  Protection Island is closed to visitors, and the refuge says the waters within 200 yards are closed to all watercraft so adult birds are not flushed from their nests. Be Whale Wise, the regional boating guidance program, asks boaters to stay 100 yards from seals, sea lions, gray whales and humpbacks, 200 yards from Bigg's (transient) killer whales and 1,000 yards from the endangered Southern Resident killer whales, and to slow to under 7 knots within half a mile of the Southern Residents. If you cannot tell which kind of orca you are looking at, the program says to follow the stricter rule.

Which birds are the last to arrive in Washington?

• Common nighthawks

  Mid-May through August, among the latest spring arrivals · Open ground: shrub-steppe and farmland in the Columbia Basin, cities, clear-cuts and burns, and a few places in western Washington

  BirdWeb puts nighthawks in Washington from mid-May and notes that they are among the latest spring arrivals to turn up. Look up at dusk and dawn for a long-winged, narrow bird with white wing patches flying erratically after insects. Males climb and then dive, and the rush of air at the bottom of the dive makes a booming sound. Females lay two eggs on bare sand or gravel and build no nest. In western Washington small numbers breed in the Puget Trough and out to Ocean Shores, but BirdWeb dates that nesting to June and later, so May is for watching the flight displays.

• Swainson's thrushes

  Late spring; spring migrants appear in eastern Washington in late May, per BirdWeb · Dense hardwood and mixed forest at low and middle elevations, and salmonberry thickets

  This is the thrush whose flute-like song drifts out of the understory at dusk. BirdWeb says none winter in Washington, and that the nest is an open cup on a horizontal branch, typically 2 to 10 feet up, often in a salmonberry stand. Because the bird stays hidden, the song is the way to find it. Add its first song to your log, then go back the same evening a week later and note whether the chorus has grown.

• Western tanagers

  Widespread between May and September; a relatively late spring migrant · Open conifer and mixed forests, and in migration yards, orchards and shrub-steppe

  BirdWeb calls the western tanager a late-spring and early-fall migrant, and common in the Puget Trough lowlands during migration. A male is a bright yellow bird with a red face, and it can turn up in a suburban yard in May. The nest is a shallow cup well out on a horizontal fork, and the young leave after about 11 days. In breeding season the diet is mostly insects.

• Yellow warblers and the cowbird problem

  Common from May through mid-August · Willow, alder and cottonwood thickets near water, most common in eastern lowland stream corridors

  Males arrive first and females follow about ten days later, according to BirdWeb, so a bush full of singing males in early May can mean the nesting season has not really started. Yellow warblers are a favorite target of brown-headed cowbirds, the species that leaves its eggs in other birds' nests, and a warbler that finds a cowbird egg sometimes builds a new nest right over it. It is one of the stranger things you can learn about from a thicket.

• Sage thrashers

  Present in sagebrush from the end of March to mid-August · Open big sagebrush and bitterbrush shrub-steppe in eastern Washington

  BirdWeb lists the sage thrasher as a Species of Concern and a candidate for state endangered listing, with habitat loss and cheatgrass as major threats. Pairs build a bulky nest in or under a big sagebrush and incubate four or five eggs, with both adults feeding nestlings that fledge roughly 10 days after hatching. The bird is a casual to rare spring migrant west of the Cascades, so go east to look, keep to roads and trails, and treat each sagebrush stand as someone's nursery.

What blooms, flies and leafs out on Washington's prairies and woodlands in May?

• Pacific dogwood in bloom

  Flowers from April through June, per Native Plants PNW · Moist, well-drained understory in fairly open mixed forest in western Washington

  What looks like a single large white flower on a Pacific dogwood is a tight cluster of tiny greenish flowers surrounded by four to six white bracts, sometimes tinged with pink. The tree ranges from southwestern British Columbia through western Washington and Oregon. It is highly susceptible to dogwood anthracnose, a fungus that leaves large brown blotches on the leaves and can kill twigs, so a healthy bloom is something to note. Look for the white flush in forest openings along trails and creeks, and check the leaves while you are there.

• Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve

  Hours are 7 a.m. to dusk daily; the state page gives no bloom dates · South of Olympia in Thurston County, managed by the Department of Natural Resources

  The preserve protects a prairie community of Roemer's fescue and white-topped aster on the unusual low mounds that give the place its name. DNR describes it as home to a variety of prairie-dependent butterflies and birds, and its restoration work aims to help rare plants, butterflies and birds of prairie and oak habitats. A Discover Pass is required for parking, dogs are not allowed except service dogs, and hunting and shooting are prohibited. DNR's page does not say when the flowers peak, so ask the preserve or a local native plant chapter before a long drive. Stay on the trail: the prairie is slow to recover from trampling.

• Taylor's checkerspot

  Adults fly in spring; cool, wet weather limits their activity, per WDFW · Prairie, coastal bluff and dune habitats in Clallam, Pierce and Thurston counties and on Joint Base Lewis-McChord

  This butterfly carries endangered status under both state and federal listings. WDFW says it once lived from the San Juan Islands south to the Cowlitz River and survives now in only eight Washington populations. Females lay eggs on host plants such as harsh paintbrush and other low prairie plants. WDFW lists no public viewing sites, and asks anyone who sees one to report it with a photo and exact coordinates. The right move for most of us is to learn what a restored prairie looks like and to keep the habitat intact.

What should you do about baby animals in Washington in May?

• Deer fawns

  Late spring and early summer; WDFW gives no fixed dates · Fields, road edges, yards and woodlands statewide

  WDFW's guidance is blunt: leave deer fawns alone unless you are certain the mother is dead or the fawn is clearly sick or injured. A fawn lying still in grass is doing what it was built to do, and the doe is usually feeding nearby. The agency says the only time to consider stepping in is when an animal is clearly sick or injured, or when you are certain the parent has died. If you are in doubt, call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator or WDFW rather than moving the animal.

• Roosevelt elk calves

  Late spring; the park does not give a calving date · Hoh Rain Forest and other valley bottoms in Olympic National Park

  Olympic National Park calls the Hoh Rain Forest an excellent place to see elk, with herds of about 20, mostly females and calves, staying in the area all year. The park asks visitors to stay at least 100 feet, about three bus lengths, from all elk, and to leave any calf alone, because the mother is close by. If an elk looks anxious or follows you, back away slowly.

• Bats at dusk

  Feeding is most active in the two to three hours after dusk; births occur in June in western Washington · Rivers, lakes, orchards and the edges of buildings

  WDFW's page on the little brown myotis says reproductive females gather in warm maternity roosts of a dozen to more than a thousand bats, and that births are delayed or reduced in cool, wet years. The page puts the end of hibernation in March or April, so May evenings are a good time to watch them hunt over water. If bats roost in your building, the agency says damage is usually minimal, and that exclusion methods and nearby bat houses are the recommended approach. Ask WDFW about timing before closing any opening.

• Olympic marmots, out of hibernation

  Emerging in spring; litters first appear above ground in late July or early August · Mountain meadows above about 4,000 feet in the Olympic Mountains

  The Olympic marmot lives only in the Olympic Mountains, and the park says about 90 percent of its habitat is inside Olympic National Park. Numbers fell in the 1990s and early 2000s, at least partly because of predation by non-native coyotes, and a volunteer monitoring program began in 2010. In May much of the high country is still under snow, so this is a month to learn the whistle and to remember that the pups will not appear until late summer.

When are the lowest tides in Washington in May?

When do Washington's mountain roads open in May, and what is the snow doing?

• North Cascades Highway (State Route 20)

  Opened April 19 in 2024, April 22 in 2025, May 11 in 2023 and May 10 in 2022 · Across the North Cascades between Newhalem and Mazama

  WSDOT's table lists May 5 in 2021 and May 12 in 2020 as well, so a May opening is normal and an April one is early. For 2026 the table lists only a partial reopening on April 30, so a single year can break the pattern. Check WSDOT's mountain pass page and the live road cameras before you plan a loop.

• Chinook and Cayuse passes near Mount Rainier

  Chinook Pass opened May 23 in 2025, May 31 in 2024 and May 26 in both 2023 and 2022; Cayuse Pass opened May 23, May 24, May 26 and May 27 in those years · State Routes 410 and 123 on the east side of Mount Rainier National Park

  The pattern is a late-May opening in recent years, and June 4 in 2020, so if you plan a Memorial Day trip over either pass, have a plan for staying on the west or the east side. Mount Rainier National Park's road page says tire chains are required from November 1 to May 1, and that the road between Longmire and Paradise may close at any time depending on weather and road conditions.

• A thin snowpack year, for context

  As of early May 2026 · Across the Cascades and Olympics

  The state climatologist's office reported that statewide snowpack in early May 2026 stood at 33 percent of median, with many central and southern Cascade basins below 20 percent, and that the snowpack had peaked two to three weeks early. That is one year. A deep or thin winter changes everything about when meadows clear, when creeks peak and how cold and fast they run, so look at current snowpack before you commit to a high trail.

When is the last spring freeze in Washington?

What is May weather like in Washington, and what hazards come with it?

How much daylight does Washington gain in May?

What can you see in Washington's night sky in May 2027?

• Eta Aquariid meteors, a dark-sky year

  Active about April 19 to May 28; peak night May 5 to 6, so look before dawn on May 5, 6 and 7 · The eastern sky in the last hours before dawn, with the radiant in Aquarius

  The Moon is a thin crescent at only about 1 to 2 percent lit, which makes this a very good year for the shower. The AMS meteor calendar gives a best-hour range of 10 to 30, in the last dark stretch before daybreak. Aquarius, where the streaks seem to start, clears the eastern horizon barely ahead of sunrise here. Fewer will show than in the southern states, so count on a handful per hour. Seattle's sun rises about 5:45 a.m. in the first week, so the best window is roughly 4 to 5 a.m. Give your eyes 20 minutes to adjust.

• Venus and Saturn, close but low

  Morning of May 7; about 1 degree apart on the mornings of May 6 and 8 · Very low in the east before sunrise

  Venus, at about magnitude -3.9, and Saturn, a much fainter point, separate by only 0.6 degrees at their nearest approach, a moment that comes during the day. Both lie in Pisces, hanging a few degrees above the eastern skyline some 30 minutes before sunup if you stand at 40 degrees north, and Washington's higher latitude sinks them further. A clear eastern horizon and a pair of binoculars will help, because hills or trees may hide them. It is a challenge target rather than an easy one.

• Jupiter, Mars and the first-quarter Moon

  Evenings of May 12 and 13 · High in the south and southwest after dark

  On May 12 the Moon, at first quarter that night, slides to within roughly 1.2 degrees of Jupiter. The tightest moment arrives in daylight, so look after dark for the pair high in the sky. Jupiter is the brightest steady light up there and stays out until the small hours, setting around 7 hours after dusk on May 1 by our calculations. On May 13 the Moon sits about 3 degrees from Mars, which has faded since winter and keeps dimming toward summer.

• Mercury in the evening sky

  Greatest eastern elongation on Friday, May 28, at 6:14 a.m. PDT (22.8 degrees from the Sun); look on the evenings of May 27 and 28 · Low in the west-northwest, about 45 to 90 minutes after sunset

  This is the best evening view of the planet this year in the northern United States. Plan on any clear evening between roughly May 12 and June 5. Mercury is brightest, near magnitude -0.6, around mid-month. Find a spot with a clear northwest horizon, and use binoculars to pick it out of the twilight, then look with your eyes. It fades quickly in early June.

• The Flower Moon and a seasonal Blue Moon

  Full at 3:59 a.m. PDT on Thursday, May 20; best evening is Wednesday, May 19 · Rising in the east in Seattle about 8:42 p.m. on May 19, close to sunset

  Flower Moon is the traditional almanac name for May's full Moon. Under an older seasonal rule, a spring holding four full Moons names the third one a Blue Moon, and the spring's Moons fall in March, April, May and June, which puts May's in third place. Sky calendars therefore list May 20 as a seasonal Blue Moon. No calendar-month Blue Moon occurs this year, and the Moon keeps its usual color.

What can Washington families do outside in May?

Safety notes for May in Washington