What to look for in nature in West Virginia this May

What is the Wildflower Pilgrimage, and which flowers are still out in May?

• The 65th Wildflower Pilgrimage

  Thursday through Sunday, May 6 to 9, 2027 (the date is posted by the state) · Blackwater Falls State Park, Tucker County

  The Division of Natural Resources lists this year's pilgrimage as the 65th annual, a special project of the West Virginia Garden Club co-sponsored by the agency, with help from West Virginia University, the Brooks Bird Club and colleges in four states. Thursday is set aside for beginners, with workshops on wildflower identification, nature photography, ferns and birding, plus evening talks. On Friday and Saturday one guided tour a day leaves from the park lodge with experts who name plants, birds and other features along the way. Families are welcome, though the agency notes some tours suit adults better. Registration is required, and the park's lodge rooms, cabins and campsites are booked by calling 304-558-2754. The agency's page does not list a fee or name particular flowers, so ask when you register what the leaders expect to find.

• Canada mayflower, one of the last ephemerals

  Early to mid-May on the Mylius Trail, per the Forest Service · Mylius Trail (No. 128), Cheat-Potomac Ranger District, Monongahela National Forest

  The Forest Service's bloom calendar for this trail ends with Canada mayflower, which it calls one of the latest-blooming of the spring ephemerals, opening in early to mid-May. It is a low, glossy plant with heart-shaped leaves and a short spike of tiny white flowers, easy to walk past. Its timing is a reminder that on an Allegheny slope the season runs weeks behind the river valleys, so a hike on the same trail three weekends running shows three different forests.

• Rhododendron, azaleas and mountain laurel

  Bloom runs May through June at Dolly Sods, per the Forest Service · Dolly Sods Wilderness (Grant, Randolph and Tucker counties) and other Allegheny trails

  The Forest Service says flowering laurel, rhododendron and azaleas bloom in the wilderness from May through June. The wilderness covers 17,371 acres between roughly 2,500 and 4,700 feet, and the agency describes bog and heath communities there that resemble those of southern Canada. The rhododendron is also the state flower, so a thicket in bloom is something of a local emblem. Because bloom starts lower and later higher, a patch near a river may be finished while one on the plateau is only budding. Bring a map, a waterproof layer and a way to treat water, and read the wilderness rules before you go (see the safety notes).

• The bogs at Cranberry Glades

  Spring through summer; guided tours run through the summer · Cranberry Glades Botanical Area, Pocahontas County, Monongahela National Forest

  The Forest Service describes a half-mile, wheelchair-accessible boardwalk through two of the area's four bogs. It says unusual bog plants grow here, among them carnivorous ones, and that some of the plants and animals are at the southern limit of their range in North America, left behind as the glaciers retreated. Visitors are asked to stay on the boardwalk to protect the fragile ground. The agency does not name bloom months for the glades, so ask the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center, which also handles guided tours and, on the page we read, is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, what is out that week.

Is May the best month for warblers in West Virginia, and what is World Migratory Bird Day?

• Watching the night flights

  BirdCast's migration tools run March 1 to June 15 · Any window or yard; the live maps cover the whole country

  Cornell Lab's BirdCast posts forecast maps of how many birds are expected to fly on coming nights and live maps of what radar is picking up now. A strong forecast night after a warm southerly wind often means a morning of new birds in a woodlot, so the maps help you choose which dawn to be outdoors. The site also stresses the combined hazard of lights and glass, so turn off unneeded outdoor lights on heavy migration nights and make large windows visible with decals or screens.

• World Migratory Bird Day

  Second Saturday of May in the United States by the organizers’ rule; no 2027 date posted yet · Anywhere birds are, including state parks and refuges

  In Canada and the United States the organizers place the day on the second Saturday of May, while Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean mark it on the second Saturday of October. The 2026 theme highlighted community science. No 2027 date or theme appeared on the site at our last visit, so confirm the day with the organizers closer to the time. West Virginia events, if any, are set by local groups, so ask your nearest park, refuge or bird club.

• A river-valley bird club's May count

  The Spring Migration Count is annual; the club does not post its date on its home page · Wood County, around Parkersburg and Marietta

  The Mountwood Bird Club, an affiliate of the Brooks Bird Club, sponsors a Spring Migration Count and keeps an early and late date checklist for Wood County, and it schedules outings most Thursdays. Its home page lists no 2027 count date, so contact the club. Even if you do not join, a county checklist of first and last dates is a handy way to see how migration moves through a river valley.

• The festival that ends May 1

  April 26 to May 1, 2027, per the organizer's site, which calls it the 25th year · Fayette County and New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

  The New River Birding and Nature Festival has run since 2002, with guided trips and a registration system tied to partner lodging, and its proceeds support the Fayette County Education Fund. In 2027 its last day is the first of the month, so a May weekend visit falls just after it. Guides who work the festival often stay around to lead other trips, though the organizer does not say so, so ask.

• Hummingbird feeders

  The Division of Natural Resources says the earliest ruby-throats arrive as soon as April 1 · Feeders and red tubular flowers statewide

  The agency's spring guidance, as reported in April 2026, was a sugar-water mix of 1 to 3 or 1 to 4, no red dye and a cleaning every three to five days, with red tubular flowers such as columbine and trumpet vine as natural magnets. Journey North welcomes sightings from anyone, and its migration maps track the northward front.

• Birds of the spruce

  Late spring and summer · Red spruce forest at the highest elevations of the Alleghenies

  The Division of Natural Resources names red crossbill, pine siskin, Swainson's thrush and olive-sided flycatcher among the birds tied to the state's red spruce forests, along with the northern goshawk. These are birds of cool, high places, so May is a good month to take a ridge walk with a recording app and listen for the flutelike song of the thrush.

How fast do the Shepherdstown eaglets grow in May, and when do they fly?

• Weeks five to ten, by the calendar

  Early May through early June in a normal season · National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, Jefferson County; live camera on the Service's site

  In the 2021 notes, six-week-old eaglets on May 5 were nearly covered in feathers, and by May 18, at eight weeks, they were nearly full grown, feeding themselves and still at least two weeks from flight. In 2020 the Service reported a first try at self-feeding at 39 days, on May 4, and branching, a first hop to a perch beside the nest, expected around two months. In 2019 flight feathers were lengthening at nearly nine weeks. By the second week of June the young are flapping hard and using higher perches.

• First flights

  Mid-June in the years the Service posted: June 5 and 8 in 2021, June 13 in 2020 and June 15 in 2023 · Over the Potomac River near the nest

  Fledging in those seasons came at about 11 weeks, and the notes describe young birds returning to the nest for days afterward. That is a June story, but May is when the muscles are built, so a camera visit now shows the training. In 2019 a fledgling fell while reaching for a favorite perch and was back to practice takeoffs the next day.

• Not every year is the same

  Hatching comes in late March or April; the nest has had losses · The same camera

  The Service's notes say a windstorm brought the nest down on April 19, 2025, and no eaglets were raised in 2022. Nature does not keep a promise, so watch the camera and the notes page rather than a date. If a camera shows an empty nest, nothing is wrong with your connection.

What should you do if you find a fawn, a baby bird or a turtle in the road?

• Fawns

  Spring, when fawns are usually born · Yards, fields and field edges

  The agency says a mother deer often leaves her young for hours while she forages, and that a bedded fawn with no adult in sight is not abandoned. It adds that a young animal is generally in no danger until someone picks it up, and that removing it almost surely leads to its death. Leave it, keep pets away, and go home.

• Eastern box turtles

  Active in spring, when traffic is a major danger · Roads, trails and yards statewide

  The agency says box turtles can live for more than a century, though most do not survive past 30 to 40 years, and the shell can close fully when threatened. If it is safe to stop, note which way a turtle is heading and move it off the road in that same direction, never somewhere else you think is better. Taking turtles from the wild is against state rules, and mowing with the blade at least eight inches off the ground protects those hiding in long grass. Brush piles, fruiting shrubs and fewer insecticides make a yard friendlier to them.

• Black bears and their cubs

  Bear activity peaks in May and June, per the Division of Natural Resources · Parks, neighborhoods, campsites and roadsides

  Bears are hungry after winter, and human food is easy and rich. The agency says to keep trash secured until pickup morning, clean grills after each use, remove pet food after feeding and, at a campsite, hang food and scented items about 10 feet off the ground. If you meet a bear, never approach it; back away slowly while making yourself known, and use bear spray if it keeps coming. Never feed a bear, and give any cub plenty of room, since its mother is rarely far.

What lives in West Virginia's red spruce forests and in Canaan Valley?

• The red spruce forest

  Year-round; May is the start of the visiting season · High elevations of the Allegheny Mountains

  The Division of Natural Resources estimates about 178,000 acres of upland red spruce forest and woodland, roughly 1.16 percent of the state, with about 86 percent on public land. It says the spruce may once have covered up to a million acres before logging and fire. Animals that need it include the West Virginia northern flying squirrel, snowshoe hare and northern goshawk, and restoration work, led by the Central Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative, is bringing the forest back slowly.

• The Cheat Mountain salamander

  Salamander Saturday, which the agency describes as the first Saturday in May; confirm any events · On and around Cheat Mountain in the eastern highlands

  This small woodland salamander is found only on and around Cheat Mountain and carries threatened status under the federal Endangered Species Act. The state agency says two salamander species occur nowhere else than West Virginia's mountains. Finding one is a matter of luck, and disturbing the forest floor harms the cool, damp homes it needs, so enjoy the woods from the trail. A 2021 state rule prohibits taking or possessing most native reptiles and amphibians, including 26 kinds of salamander.

• Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge

  Visitor center open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., as posted; confirm before a trip · Eastern Tucker County, about 3,200 feet

  Established in 1994, the refuge is, in the Fish and Wildlife Service's words, West Virginia's largest unbroken high-elevation wetland complex: 5,225 acres of the valley's roughly 8,400 acres of wetlands, including the headwaters of the Little Blackwater River and 13 miles of the Blackwater. The agency says it hosts migratory birds, threatened and endangered species and rare plants and animals more typical of the north. The Freeland Boardwalk Trail is a good place to listen at dawn. The refuge's page does not list May species, so ask the visitor center what has arrived.

When do fireflies and bats come back, and how can you help count them?

• Fireflies

  Synchronous fireflies emerge from early June through July, lower elevations first; other kinds can come earlier · Dark, humid, forested places, often near water; Watoga State Park is the best-known viewing spot

  News coverage of a Division of Natural Resources project says West Virginia has as many as 40 firefly species, each with its own flash pattern. The citizen science project asks the public to report sightings at wvdnr.gov/fireflies or through the Survey123 app, with photos tagged #LightUpWV. The synchronous species, which flashes in unison, is a June event: adults live only about two weeks, and the larvae spend two years in the soil. Researchers at West Virginia University ask visitors to use red light, stay quiet and stay on the path. May is the time to plan, and to dim your own yard lights.

• Bats over the river

  Evenings as insects hatch · Over water and forest edges; New River Gorge National Park and Preserve has ten bat species

  The Park Service says all ten of the gorge's bat species eat insects and that seven of them use abandoned mine portals for winter hibernation. White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease, is especially dangerous to bats that winter in those portals because it drains the fat they need to survive. The park's Grandview Bat Condo is a bat house designed for up to 10,000 bats. At dusk, stand near water and watch for flickering shapes against the last light.

• Monarchs and other travelers

  Spring sightings are collected by Journey North · Gardens and meadows

  Each spring Journey North gathers volunteers' first sightings of monarch adults, eggs and caterpillars. It posts no dates for this region, which makes your own report the valuable part. Leave some lawn unmowed and plant native flowers, which the state's firefly biologist also recommends.

How warm, wet and stormy is May in West Virginia?

When is the last spring freeze in West Virginia?

How much daylight does West Virginia gain in May?

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

• Eta Aquariid meteors at new moon

  Best mornings May 5, 6 and 7, before dawn; new moon May 6 at 6:58 a.m. EDT · Any dark site with a clear eastern sky

  In 2027 the shower peaks at new moon, with only a 1 to 2 percent crescent in the sky, which Sea and Sky calls an excellent year. The American Meteor Society's ten to thirty an hour describes the last dark stretch before sunrise across the southern two-thirds of the country. The meteors fan out from Aquarius, which rises late and sits low, so numbers shrink with latitude and a West Virginia observer should plan on fewer than that. Dress warmly, lie back, and give your eyes 20 minutes.

• Venus and Saturn, close but low

  Mornings of May 6 to 8; closest on May 7 · Low in the east before sunrise

  On the mornings around May 7 Venus and Saturn are about one degree apart, and their closest approach, 0.6 degree, happens, by our calculations, at about 2:44 in the afternoon (EDT) on the 7th, while the sun is up here. Venus is the brilliant one at magnitude -3.9, with Saturn at +0.7. Both are only about 3 to 6 degrees high half an hour before sunrise, so they need a flat horizon and binoculars, and many West Virginia hollows will hide them. Treat it as a bonus if you are up for the meteors.

• The Flower Moon, a seasonal Blue Moon

  Full on Thursday, May 20, at 6:59 a.m. EDT; the best evening to watch it rise is Wednesday, May 19 · Rising in the east around 8 p.m. on the 19th

  The May full moon is traditionally the Flower Moon. This year it also earns the older, seasonal Blue Moon title: spring in the astronomer's sense, equinox to solstice, holds four full moons by our count, and the Flower Moon is third, the one that wears the old blue label. Sea and Sky's calendar gives it that label. Today's popular rule, a second full moon inside one calendar month, yields nothing this year, so no one should expect a tint; the Moon will keep its usual cream and silver. Moonrise on the evening of the 19th falls between about 7:50 p.m. in New York and 8:15 p.m. in Atlanta, so a West Virginia ridge sees it around 8 p.m.

• Mercury at its best evening

  Greatest eastern elongation on May 28 at 9:14 a.m. EDT, so the evenings of May 27 and 28 are best; look from about May 12 to June 5 · Low in the west-northwest, 45 to 90 minutes after sunset

  At greatest elongation Mercury lies 22.8 degrees to the sun's east, and it shines near magnitude -0.6 in mid-May, fading to +0.9 by June 1. By our calculations it lingers some 97 minutes after sunset in mid-May at 40 degrees north (the time shifts a little with latitude), so find a clear western horizon (a river valley facing west is ideal) and use binoculars to pick it out in the twilight.

• Jupiter and the Moon

  Wednesday, May 12, evening; the Moon is near first quarter · High in the south and southwest after dark

  Jupiter still owns the evening sky. On May 1 Jupiter stays out well into the night by our calculations, and it sets a little earlier every week as the Sun closes in. On the evening of May 12 the nearly half-lit moon passes about 1.2 degrees from it, an easy sight without a telescope. Mars, much fainter now, lies in Leo as well.

• The Milky Way returns

  May 1 to 14 and May 25 to 31, computed for 40 N latitude, with up to about 3.8 hours of dark core · Dark skies away from town lights with a clear south-southeastern horizon

  The brightest stretch of our galaxy, toward Sagittarius, hangs low over the southern horizon, and its season gets going this month. The computed windows require the core to stand at least 10 degrees high, the sky to be fully dark and the Moon to be gone. Dark spots such as the high country near Canaan Valley suit it. The sunspot cycle is past its peak but the sun is still active; check NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center for an aurora alert on clear nights.

What can West Virginia families do outdoors in May?

Safety notes for May in West Virginia