What to look for in nature in West Virginia this March

When do the Shepherdstown eaglets hatch, and how close can you get to a nest?

• Hatch watch at the training center

  Usually the second half of March; the cam runs around the clock in nesting season · The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, Jefferson County

  The Service's cam page lays out the yearly cycle: egg laying in mid-February, then 35 to 38 days of steady incubation, with hatching in mid-March and fledging in mid-June. The first sign of a hatch is usually a small hole punched through the shell. In 2026 the nest's staff and viewers were in just that waiting stage on March 27, according to WV MetroNews, with about 37 days of incubation behind the parents. The pair had moved into the backup nest they built the previous fall, about 15 feet below the one the 2025 storm destroyed. Dates for 2027 depend on when the eggs are laid, so treat late March as the window to watch and check the cam page for news.

• What the nest's own notes show

  Hatch dates in the notes run from March 20 to April 8 · The training center nest, as logged by the Service

  The agency's season-by-season notes are a good reminder that wild nests do not keep a schedule. The first chick hatched on March 20 in 2021 and again in 2025 (when the three eggs, laid February 10, 13 and 16, hatched on March 20, 22 and 24). In 2020 the dates were March 25 and 27, in 2023 the first egg hatched on March 26, and in 2019 the eaglets arrived on March 29 and 31. In 2024 the eggs came late, between February 27 and March 4, one broke on March 19, and the first chick did not hatch until April 8. The same notes record the hard parts: a chick lost in 2020 and 2019, and in 2025 a sudden windstorm on the night of April 19 that blew the whole nest out of the tree with three four-week-old eaglets inside. A camera shows real wildlife, and not every story ends well.

• Eagle nests across the state

  Nesting begins in January or February; eggs hatch in about 35 days · Large trees near rivers and lakes, along most of the state's major rivers

  The Division of Natural Resources' brochure on eagles says West Virginia had 19 pairs attempt to nest in 2005, 14 of them successfully. By the second breeding bird atlas (2009 to 2014) observers had found 53 nest sites, with 40 active in 2014, and as of 2022 more than 130 nests had been documented. Biologists monitor the nests every year. The law protects them: being at a nest site during the nesting season counts as harassment, and a first offense carries a fine of $500 to $5,000 or 60 days to a year in jail. If you find a nest, keep your distance, watch with binoculars or a scope from a road or a boat, and report the location to dnr.wildlife@wv.gov.

When do spring peepers start calling in West Virginia, and which salamanders cross the road?

• Spring peepers

  Late February in warm valleys, March in most places, and as late as the end of March in the uplands · Wooded wetlands, ponds, roadside ditches and vernal pools, statewide, in the evening

  A Marshall University biologist quoted by the DNR said the chorus comes early if the weather is mild and later after a hard winter, and that the frogs spend winter in the forest and come to the wetlands only to breed. The season lasts about a month to a month and a half. Peepers are small, with a dark X on a tan or brown back, and the call is a high, bright peep that many people liken to sleigh bells. A naturalist at Chief Logan State Park told West Virginia Explorer that peepers are the first frog most people hear in spring and that they can survive freezing, so a cold snap rarely silences them for long. The botanic garden near Morgantown notes that peepers and wood frogs make chemicals in their cells that let them freeze and thaw without dying.

• Jefferson salamanders and their kin

  Late winter and early spring, on rainy nights, with February and March the peak in the DNR's account · Woods around fishless vernal pools

  The Jefferson salamander is a large, slender, brown or gray animal up to eight inches long, with very long toes and sometimes faint blue flecks along the sides. The DNR's field book says the adults stay underground until late winter or early spring, then surface on rainy nights and migrate in numbers to breeding pools, where each female lays small clusters of clear eggs on submerged twigs. The small-mouthed salamander, which has a smaller head and silvery marks, breeds in February and March as well. A DNR slide set for pool volunteers lists Jefferson salamanders, wood frogs, spotted salamanders, American toads, gray treefrogs and marbled salamanders as the common pool breeders and notes that the timing of breeding trips varies by species; the marbled salamander is the odd one, laying its eggs in dry pools in September or October. On the first mild, rainy night of the month, drive slowly on back roads near woods and watch the pavement.

• American toads and the later chorus

  Typically a few weeks after the peepers, in the same kinds of ponds; check your local water · Shallow ponds, shorelines and flooded fields

  If the long, steady trill of a toad drifts over the pond after the peeper chorus, it is probably an American toad, a brown or gray animal with warts and glands behind the eyes. The DNR's slides describe the call as a long trill, and the eggs as long, thin, often coiled strings. The wood frogs of February, whose chorus the DNR says lasts anywhere from a few days to two weeks at a pool, may already have left tadpoles in the water; those tadpoles change into froglets by early June.

• Stream salamanders

  March and April · Rocky streams, seeps and floodplains in moist forest

  Not every salamander story involves a vernal pool. The DNR's field book says female two-lined salamanders lay 35 to 60 eggs in March and April on the undersides of rocks in small streams, guarding them if they are under a stone. Wehrle's salamanders mate in March and April and lay in April. Turn a rock only to look and always replace it as it was; many of these animals live their whole lives under one.

Where can you watch the woodcock's sky dance in West Virginia?

• The dance at dusk

  Late winter and early spring; timing is later at higher elevations · Open fields, forest openings and old farmland beside good feeding ground, in the half hour after sunset or before sunrise

  Virginia's wildlife agency describes the pattern for its own state: the display begins when the ground is thawed and free of snow, in the half hour before sunrise and after sunset, with a nasal peent from the ground, then an upward flight on wings that twitter, a zigzag high above, and a spiral back to the same spot. Canaan Valley is colder and higher than Virginia's lowlands, so expect the first dancers later, and come on a calm, clear evening. Stay quiet at the field's edge, wait for the peent, and look up against the last light.

• Canaan Valley, a stronghold

  Spring evenings; check with the refuge for programs · Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Tucker County

  The refuge's own pages call the male's sky dance part of the mating ritual and say that the staff count peenting males in different parts of the refuge, band woodcock when they can, and keep grasslands open by burning or mowing on a three-year cycle so shrubs do not take over. The refuge, its friends group and the local Master Naturalists have hosted an evening woodcock program at the visitor center with an indoor talk followed by a listening walk. One announced program was a free Saturday session on April 1 at 7 p.m., with the year not stated in the notice; dates vary, so ask the refuge about 2027.

• A bird in trouble, and the scientists following it

  Research continues; the survey runs every spring · Canaan Valley and across eastern North America

  In the fall of 2019 a team at Canaan Valley marked five woodcock with satellite transmitters as part of the Eastern Woodcock Migration Research Cooperative, a collaboration of eleven states and three Canadian provinces led from the University of Maine, according to the account on the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy site. The author notes that woodcock numbers are falling by about 1.1 percent a year, and that North America has lost about one in four birds over 50 years. A Fish and Wildlife Service survey tracks the change: since 1968 volunteers and agency staff have driven set roadside routes each spring and counted singing males, and those counts guide each year's hunting seasons.

Is it too late for maple syrup in March, and which tree flowers first?

• The last runs of the sugar season

  Usually early February to late March · Sugar bushes across the Allegheny and Potomac highlands

  The state's maple harvest runs from early February to late March, a West Virginia news service reported in 2026, when more than 55 commercial producers were in business. Sap builds pressure in the trunk on days that thaw after a freeze, so a run is best on a day that starts below freezing and ends well above. Once nights stay mild the run fades. Producers keep boiling when they can, so a visit in March can still catch steam rising from a sugarhouse.

• Mountain State Maple Days, the March Saturday

  One Saturday in March; in 2026 it was March 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; the 2027 date has not been announced · Registered sugarhouses statewide

  The West Virginia Maple Syrup Producers Association opens member sugarhouses on two Saturdays, one in February and one in March. A county tourism site listed the 2026 pair as February 21 and March 21. Visitors register, then tour the boiling room and often taste and buy syrup and candies. The association warns that this is working-farm ground: dress for mud and steam. Check the association's site, wvmspa.org, for the 2027 dates.

• Red maple in flower

  March through May, depending on elevation and latitude · River valleys, hollows and hillsides statewide, in flower before the leaves open

  The Forest Service's silvics manual lists red maple among the earliest trees to bloom, weeks ahead of leaf-bud break, and gives March to May as the flowering window, later at higher elevations and farther north. A bare hillside seen from a distance can take on a reddish haze. Up close, look for red clusters on twigs at eye level along streams and roads. The seeds ripen April to June, before the leaves are fully out.

Which wildflowers bloom first in West Virginia?

• Virginia bluebells

  Pushing up in late February and early March in warm lowlands; May in the colder uplands · Rich, moist woods and forest glades

  A native plant specialist quoted by West Virginia Explorer said the bluebells come through in late February and early March, show off their flowers, then ripen their seeds and die back. In March, then, look for the first purple-gray leaves and nodding buds, with the pink and blue bells opening a little later in the sun. Where a colony grows, walk on the trail and not through it.

• Bloodroot

  Early spring, soon after the snow leaves · Roadbanks and open woods with dappled sun and well-drained soil

  Bloodroot opens a large white flower with many petals soon after winter lets go, and the same source says the blossoms are long-lasting. The red sap inside the underground stem gives the plant its name. Look along sunlit banks beside roads and trails.

• Trout lily

  Early spring, after the first warm days · Forest floors throughout the eastern United States

  The plant takes its name from leaves mottled like a rainbow trout, and it has two other common names, adder's tongue and dogtooth violet. It sends up a nodding yellow flower on a single stem. Look in lowland woods first, and plan a second visit later in the month for the uplands.

• In the garden

  March · Gardens and yard beds

  The West Virginia Botanic Garden notes that hellebores are among its first flowers and that spring bulbs push up in March. A hellebore, a daffodil sprout and a crocus in the yard are a good way to start a bloom list.

What else wakes up in March: trout, bears and hummingbirds?

• Trout stocking

  Through spring; each day's stockings are posted by the end of that business day · State parks, lakes and rivers statewide; the DNR posts the waters

  The DNR says it does not release stocking schedules ahead of each event; stockings are posted by the end of each business day on its fish stocking page and on a hotline at 304-558-3399. In past springs it also ran weekend stockings at state parks: in 2020 there were more than 70 on Fridays and Saturdays in March, April and May, at parks including Blackwater Falls, Cacapon, Chief Logan, Holly River, Watoga and Pipestem. The agency stocked 802,481 trout from January through May 2023, 19 percent more than in the same months of 2022, an increase the agency credited to hatchery investments and a mild winter; its hatcheries include Bowden, Edray, Reed's Creek and Tate Lohr. Fishing license and trout stamp rules change, so check the DNR before you go.

• Bears leave their dens

  Early spring; conflicts peak in May and June · Mountain counties and forest edges

  The DNR says bears and their cubs leave their dens in early spring, and hungry. Its advice for people is to take bird feeders down before mid-March, keep trash in a secure place until the morning of pickup, remove pet food and clean grills after each use. The agency says encounters occur most often in May and June. If you meet a bear, give it room and back away slowly. The DNR office number is 304-558-6200.

• Hummingbird feeders, for April

  Ruby-throated hummingbirds arrive as early as April 1, per the DNR · Gardens and woodland edges statewide

  West Virginia Public Broadcasting, quoting the DNR on April 20, 2026, said ruby-throated hummingbirds arrive as early as April 1 and that sightings spread across the state in mid-April that year. The DNR's recipe is one part sugar to three or four parts water, with no red dye, and the feeder should be cleaned every three to five days. That makes late March the time to wash feeders. If you hang them early, keep them fresh.

How cold, snowy and stormy is March in West Virginia?

When is the last spring freeze in West Virginia?

How much daylight does West Virginia gain in March?

What can you see in West Virginia's night sky in March 2027?

• The clock change and the equinox

  Clocks forward at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 14; equinox Saturday, March 20, at 4:25 p.m. EDT · Everywhere

  Daylight saving time resumes on Sunday the 14th, with West Virginia's clocks skipping from 2 a.m. straight to 3 a.m. The equinox itself falls on Saturday afternoon the 20th, at 4:25 p.m. EDT (20:25 UTC): the sun stands over the equator and begins its northward run, which astronomers count as the first moment of spring.

• The Worm Moon

  Full on Monday, March 22, at 6:44 a.m. EDT; the best evening to watch it rise is Sunday the 21st · Rising in the east around sunset on the 21st; low in the west at dawn on the 22nd

  Tradition names the March full moon the Worm Moon, after the thaw that softens soil and brings worms up. The exact full moment, 6:44 a.m. on the 22nd, comes shortly before sunrise, so that morning a round, pale moon sits low over the western ridges while the east brightens. The evening of the 21st gives the better moonrise: a moon one night from full climbing above the eastern hills around sunset.

• Mercury and Venus before dawn

  Mercury at greatest western elongation on March 17, best from about March 8 to 25; Venus all month · Low in the east and southeast before sunrise

  Mercury reaches its widest western separation from the sun, 27.6 degrees, at about 12:20 a.m. EDT on March 17, and the best mornings run from roughly the 8th to the 25th. Aim at the east-southeast sky roughly sixty minutes before dawn, ideally from a hilltop with nothing in the way; the planet shines near magnitude +1 early in the month and a little brighter by mid-month. Venus is easier, a blazing morning star near magnitude -4 that rises close to two hours ahead of the sun on the 1st, with that lead shrinking all month. By our own computation a slender, aging crescent moon sits near Venus at dawn on the 4th, and still close to it on the 5th.

• Jupiter, Mars and the Moon in the evening

  Moon near Jupiter on the evenings of March 18 and 19; Mars and Jupiter 4.3 degrees apart on the evening of March 30 · High in the east to south after dark, in the stars of Leo

  Jupiter, in or near Leo, is the brightest star-like object after dark, and on March 1 it sets only as day breaks; Mars, orange and fainter, is in the same constellation. By our own computation the waxing moon, nearly full, slides to within a degree of Jupiter after dark on March 18 and 19, a fine pair for binoculars. By the same computation Mars and Jupiter themselves close to 4.3 degrees apart in the small hours of the 31st, so look on the evening of the 30th, when both stand high in the south by about 8 p.m. EDT. Also by computation, on the 13th a thin crescent moon drifts past the Pleiades after sunset. Saturn is leaving the evening sky, with its last easy views early in the month, and passes the sun on April 7.

• The Milky Way and the aurora

  The Milky Way's core in the last hour or so before dawn; aurora is possible on any night · Dark sites away from towns and valley fog, such as the high country

  The galaxy's bright core is about to return to the sky before dawn, but only for a short stretch. By our own calculation for about 40 degrees north, the best moonless mornings are roughly March 5 to 16 and the 31st, and even then the core stands in true darkness for little more than an hour; southern West Virginia gets slightly longer. The aurora can show up on any clear dark night, with March and September tending to run livelier than other months; check the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center forecast.

What can West Virginia families do outdoors in March?

Safety notes for March in West Virginia