What to look for in nature in West Virginia this November

Where can you see golden eagles and bald eagles in West Virginia in November?

• Golden eagles over Peters Mountain

  Late October into mid-November; the official count usually stops around November 11 · Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory, Monroe County, on the Virginia line

  HawkCount’s profile of the Hanging Rock site gives an average of about 34 golden eagles per fall season, a high of 81 in 2015, and a best single day of 14 on November 3, 2018. The West Virginia Encyclopedia’s entry on the observatory puts golden eagles and red-tailed hawks at their best in mid-November. The wooden lookout itself is still closed while a group raises money to rebuild it, so the counters sit on the rocks next to it. The best days follow a cold front, with blue sky and a northwest breeze lifting off the mountain. Adults are chocolate-brown with a gold wash across the nape, legs feathered right down to the toes, and long wings held nearly flat; a young one shows white patches at the base of the flight feathers and a white tail ending in a dark band.

• Winter goldens in the national forest

  November through March · Monongahela National Forest and nearby open ridges and old mine land, Tucker County south to Monroe

  Much of what is known about these birds came from West Virginia University. In the early 2010s, a WVU researcher and the Eastern Golden Eagle Working Group set more than 80 motion-triggered cameras in small, remote clearings from New York to North Carolina, baited them with road-killed deer, and collected thousands of eagle photographs, proof of how readily golden eagles eat carrion in winter. A golden eagle weighs 6 to 14 pounds and spans 6 to 7 feet or a little more, and it takes a wide range of live mammals and birds as well. You are most likely to see one soaring along a high ridge or flushing from a roadkill on a mountain road.

• Bald eagles on the rivers and lakes

  All month; pairs add sticks to their nests before laying in January or February · The South Branch of the Potomac, the Ohio, Kanawha and Greenbrier rivers, and large reservoirs

  The state’s first recorded bald eagle nest was found in 1981 beside the South Branch of the Potomac, and the DNR says the same territory was still in use in 2022. In 2005, 19 pairs tried to nest; by 2022 biologists had documented more than 130 nests. During fall migration, the brochure adds, most eagles are seen in the mountains, where they follow the ridges south and gather at lakes. With the leaves down, November is a good time to spot the bulky stick nests and the pairs that use them. Watch from a distance and never approach an active nest; disturbing eagles breaks state and federal law. The DNR asks people to report new nests to dnr.wildlife@wv.gov.

Which birds arrive in West Virginia in November, and will winter finches come this year?

• Northern saw-whet owls

  October and November; heaviest in the first half of November · Valley Falls State Park, Marion County, and conifer or rhododendron thickets statewide

  The northern saw-whet owl is the smallest owl in the eastern United States: 7 or 8 inches tall and 2 to 4 ounces, about the weight of a deck of cards. WVU Extension notes that the birds migrate through West Virginia with a peak in early to mid-November, and that some have nested in the state’s high-elevation forests. Since 2005, a Brooks Bird Club bander has run a fall owl station at Valley Falls State Park, opening fine mist nets after dark. His best night there brought 26 saw-whets on November 6, 2016, and in 2018 the station caught 27 owls and welcomed 75 visitors. Each owl gets a numbered leg band before it is released. The club has not posted a 2026 schedule, so contact it before you plan an evening; migrants move most on cold, clear nights.

• Juncos, sparrows and the start of FeederWatch

  Juncos arrive in the lowlands by early November; FeederWatch runs November 1 to April 30 · Yards, field edges and brushy fencerows

  Dark-eyed juncos nest on West Virginia’s highest mountains in summer, and in November the northern birds join them in valleys and towns, flashing white outer tail feathers as they flush. White-throated sparrows whistle from the hedges, and Carolina wrens and titmice crowd the feeders. FeederWatch, the Cornell Lab and Birds Canada survey of backyard birds, starts its 2026–27 counting season on November 1 and runs until the end of April; participants watch on two back-to-back days and note, for every species, the highest number present together, then do it again whenever they like.

• Winter finches: probably a quiet year

  Through the winter; any flight would build late · Spruce and hemlock in the high country; sunflower feeders statewide

  According to the Finch Research Network’s 2026–27 outlook, cone and seed crops are heavy this year in the Northeast and eastern Canada, so most northern finches can find food without coming this far south. It does not expect big irruptions into the southeastern states. Evening grosbeaks may make a small to moderate flight into southern New York and Pennsylvania, purple finches may trickle into the Mid-Atlantic late in the season, and the red-breasted nuthatch, which came south in numbers last winter, should mostly stay north. The forecast does expect a few Type 1 red crossbills to scatter as far south as the mountains of West Virginia, so listen for their hard calls in the red spruce of Canaan Valley, Spruce Knob and Cranberry Glades, where pine siskins can turn up too.

When is the deer rut in West Virginia, and when do bears go into their dens?

• The peak of the rut

  Chasing builds in early November; most does are bred around November 14 to 17 · Field edges, oak ridges and creek bottoms statewide

  Jim Crum, then the DNR’s deer biologist, told WV MetroNews in 2013 that the window is tight: dating the fetuses carried by does killed on the roads in spring shows that the largest share are bred between November 14 and 17. In the days before, bucks travel far, often in daylight, nose down on a doe’s trail. Look for fresh scrapes, patches of bare earth pawed under an overhanging branch, and for rubs on saplings the thickness of your wrist. A buck seen crossing a field at noon in mid-November is not unusual at all.

• Deer on the roads

  All month, especially at dusk and dawn · Every county, especially two-lane roads through farmland and woods

  When daylight saving time ends on November 1, the evening commute suddenly lands in the hour when deer are moving most. State Farm’s claims data have ranked West Virginia as the state where a driver is most likely to hit an animal, and November as the worst month nationally. Ease off near wooded bends at dusk, flick to high beams on empty roads, and assume one deer is followed by another.

• Buck season week

  Monday, November 23, through Sunday, December 6 · All counties except Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming, which are closed to firearms deer hunting

  Opening day falls on the Monday of Thanksgiving week, and the 2026–27 regulations summary lets hunters take antlerless deer at the same time in 51 counties or parts of counties, and bans most small game hunting for the first three days, until November 26. For everyone else on public land, this is the busiest stretch of the year in the woods; see the safety section below.

• Bears heading for the den

  Beginning in mid-November · Rock crevices, hollow trees, brush piles and ground nests, mostly in the mountains but now statewide

  WVU Extension says West Virginia’s bears usually go back into their dens beginning in mid-November and come out from mid-March. Acorns from the red-oak group are scarce this year, according to the DNR’s 2026 mast survey, though white oaks produced a bit more, so expect hungry bears to keep roaming until they settle in. Until a cold snap settles things, keep garbage locked up and bring bird feeders in at night, because a bear packing on fat for winter will happily empty one.

Which trees still have color or leaves in West Virginia in November?

• Gold tamaracks at Cranesville Swamp

  Late October into early November; check before you go · Cranesville Swamp Preserve, Preston County, on the Maryland line

  Tamarack (American larch) is the odd conifer out: its soft needles go butter-gold and fall each autumn. Its southernmost natural stands are in this 1,774-acre preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy, which sits in a frost pocket where the surrounding hills trap cold, wet air, so the bog feels more like Canada than Appalachia. A Maryland state forester once called the larches at Cranesville and nearby Finzel Swamp an unusual late-fall treat, because they glow after the oaks have gone brown. A 1,500-foot boardwalk crosses the wettest bog; the preserve is open from dawn to dusk year-round, dogs are not allowed, and rising water can flood the trails, so wear waterproof boots.

• Oaks and beeches that will not let go

  All winter, until new growth pushes the old leaves off in spring · Young American beech in the understory; young oaks along field edges

  Clemson’s Home and Garden Information Center explains the habit, called marcescence: the band of cells that normally snaps each leaf off in autumn does not finish its work until spring. American beech is the classic example, and young oaks, hornbeam and hophornbeam do it too. One idea is that the papery leaves shield buds from browsing deer; another is that dropping them in spring gives the soil a fresh layer of mulch. Pale, rattling beech saplings light up gray November woods.

• Witch hazel in flower

  Blooms from late September into December · Stream banks, moist slopes and woodland edges

  Look for small yellow ribbons along leafless twigs: each flower has four strap-shaped petals. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center notes that last year’s capsules split as they dry and can fling their black seeds up to 30 feet, so on a quiet day you may hear them snap.

• The last days of ginseng season

  Digging ends November 30 · Rich, shaded north-facing coves

  The Division of Forestry’s rules allow digging only of plants at least five years old with three or more prongs, and the berries must go back in the ground where the plant grew. By late November the leaves have yellowed and dropped, which makes plants hard to find; after the season closes, roots must be weighed and certified, and the deadline for selling to a licensed dealer is March 31.

Has West Virginia had its first freeze yet?

How much daylight does West Virginia lose in November?

When does it start snowing in West Virginia, and what could a strong El Niño bring this winter?

What can you see in West Virginia’s night sky in November?

• A crowded morning sky

  All month before dawn; Mars and Jupiter closest on the mornings of November 15 and 16 · East and southeast, an hour or so before sunrise

  The evening sky has only Saturn, but the mornings are full. Venus, which swung past the sun’s near side in late October, climbs out of the east-southeast as a brilliant morning star and peaks in brilliance as Thanksgiving approaches. In Leo, Jupiter and Mars come up near midnight. Mars closes to about 1.2 degrees from Jupiter; the exact pairing happens on the evening of the 15th, while the two are under our horizon, so both the 15th and 16th give a fine predawn view. Little Mercury peeks up near the horizon in the east-southeast during roughly the third week, its best showing coming near the 20th. On November 9, Venus glides about one degree past Spica, Virgo’s lead star.

• The Leonids

  Best from moonset, a little after midnight, until dawn on November 18; also the 17th and 19th · Anywhere dark; the meteors come from Leo, high in the east before dawn

  The International Meteor Organization expects about 15 meteors an hour at best from the Leonids this year, peaking late on November 17 by its model, with only weak debris trails and no outburst. The first-quarter moon sets somewhere around 12:30 to 1 a.m., leaving the darkest, best hours before morning twilight. Leonids are fast, and the brighter ones leave trails that glow for a second or two.

• Taurid fireballs around the new moon

  Southern Taurids peak November 5, Northern Taurids November 12 · Much of the night, from the direction of Taurus and the Pleiades

  Neither Taurid branch produces more than five to ten meteors an hour, yet both are famous for the occasional slow, blazing fireball. They come from debris shed by Comet Encke, and the dark skies around the November 9 new moon give them a fair chance this year.

• The Beaver Moon, a supermoon

  Evenings of Monday, November 23, and Tuesday, November 24 · Rising in the east-northeast around sunset

  EarthSky, using Fred Espenak’s tables, lists November’s full moon as a supermoon, about 360,770 km from Earth, though it is a modest one because the moon’s closest approach comes some 30 hours after full. Before dawn on the 24th it slides over or just past the Pleiades, whose faint stars will struggle in the glare. The next day, November 25, Uranus is at opposition in Taurus, a faint blue-green dot in binoculars from a dark site. Follow the moon night by night on the moon phase calendar.

What are good outdoor outings for West Virginia families in November?

Safety notes for November in West Virginia