What to look for in nature in Wisconsin this November

When do tundra swans peak on the Mississippi in Wisconsin?

• Shady Maple Overlook, south of La Crosse

  Best from early November until freeze-up; peak usually November 14–15 or 21–22 this year · Off Highway 35, about one mile south of Goose Island County Park and three miles south of La Crosse

  This is the refuge’s Wisconsin-side swan overlook, in Pool 8, with parking and a wide view. The refuge notes that the wetlands beyond hold thousands of migrating waterfowl from mid-September through freeze-up, so even before the swans peak you will see ducks by the raft. Inside Goose Island County Park, the 1.18-mile Shady Maple Interpretive Trail loops through bottomland forest. The swans tend to rest far out, so a spotting scope helps.

• Diving ducks among the swans

  Through November, thinning as ice forms · Pools 7, 8 and 9, from Trempealeau down to Lynxville

  The refuge’s birding guide says canvasbacks, ring-necked ducks, lesser scaup, goldeneyes, buffleheads and redheads are often seen together in fall. The brown swans sitting with the white adults are this year’s young, still in their first gray-brown plumage.

• Rieck’s Lake at Alma

  November · Rieck’s Lake Park, off Highway 35 just north of downtown Alma, Buffalo County

  Rieck’s Lake was long Wisconsin’s best-known swan stop, and two observation decks remain. The Alma chamber of commerce warns that natural habitat loss has sharply cut the numbers there, so scan the main channel along Highway 35 as well.

Are sandhill cranes and geese still in Wisconsin in November?

• Crex Meadows, Grantsburg

  Early November; most leave by mid-to-late November · Crex Meadows Wildlife Area, western Burnett County

  According to the Friends of Crex, somewhere between a sixth and a fifth of all greater sandhill cranes on Earth use this corner of Burnett County during October and the first days of November. The birds linger until the marshes ice over, usually by the middle to end of November, then head south through Illinois and Indiana to winter along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The visitor center keeps weekend hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) only until mid-November; after that it is open weekdays only, so plan a Saturday trip for the first half of the month.

• Horicon Marsh geese

  Peak from late October to mid-November; gone by early to mid-December · Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area and Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, Dodge and Fond du Lac counties

  The DNR says the migrant Canada geese arrive around mid-September, stay four to eight weeks, peak from late October to mid-November, and leave by early to mid-December as snow and ice bury their food. Tundra swans may stop to rest on the marsh in November on their way east. The refuge’s three-mile auto tour closes to vehicles the day before the gun deer season, which this year means Friday, November 20, weather permitting.

Which winter birds and owls show up in Wisconsin in November?

• Snowy owls

  Usually from mid-November to the end of March · Open country: big farm fields, grasslands, and the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior shores

  The DNR says snowy owls usually arrive around mid-November and leave by the end of March, and at least a few reach Wisconsin every winter. Every few years a large irruption brings many more: 224 owls reported by early January in 2017–18, and 143 by early January in the smaller 2021–22 event. The DNR asks watchers not to approach closely, flush the bird repeatedly, play recordings, use flash or feed it, and to stay in the car with the engine off. Sightings go into eBird, which the department uses to follow them.

• Winter finches

  Building through November · Spruce, fir, cedar and hemlock in the north; feeders statewide later in winter

  Tyler Hoar’s winter finch forecast for the Finch Research Network, out in late September, calls for a sizable pine siskin movement, with more than a thousand a day already passing Hawk Ridge in Duluth in September. It also sees small to medium flocks of evening grosbeaks possible in the Great Lakes region, Type 2 red crossbills dominating in the western Great Lakes, white-winged crossbills roaming wherever cones are good, and maybe a small redpoll flight. Heavy mountain-ash berry crops up north probably mean few pine grosbeaks or bohemian waxwings here.

• Project FeederWatch begins

  Season opens November 1 · Any yard, balcony or schoolyard with a feeder

  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s FeederWatch season starts November 1. Sign up on the project website, then choose one regular window or patch of yard to watch all winter.

• Eagles and the last month at Ferry Bluff

  Bluff open through November 30 · Ferry Bluff State Natural Area, on the Wisconsin River west of Sauk City

  The sandstone bluffs at Ferry Bluff, more than 300 feet above the Wisconsin River, close to all entry from December 1 to March 31 so that wintering bald eagles can roost undisturbed. November is your last chance this year to climb for the view. The Ferry Bluff Eagle Council, which has counted the area’s eagles since 1988, notes that they concentrate in the Sauk Prairie roosts anywhere from early December to late February, so the big eagle weeks are still ahead.

When is the deer rut in Wisconsin, and when does gun deer season open?

• Rubs and scrapes

  Fresh through the first half of November · Woodlot edges, field corners, trail crossings

  Rubs are pale, peeled stems on saplings, marked by antlers between knee and belt height. Scrapes are patches of earth a buck has pawed clear, usually below an overhanging twig he has mouthed and marked with scent from his forehead. Both are scent posts.

• The nine-day gun season

  Saturday, November 21, through Sunday, November 29 · Statewide; metro subunits run through December 9

  Opening weekend fills Wisconsin’s woods with blaze orange. If you hike on public land that week, read the safety notes below first.

• Deer on the roads

  Highest in October and November · Every rural highway, especially at dawn and dusk

  The DNR says most deer-vehicle collisions happen in October and November, while deer are most active during breeding. Its advice: drive slowly in the evening and at night and keep scanning the roadsides. Once the clocks fall back, the drive home lands in the dark during the very week bucks travel most.

What are trout, bears and bats doing in a Wisconsin November?

• Brook and brown trout on their redds

  Early October to December; peak around mid-November · Cold, spring-fed streams of the Driftless Area, the Central Sands and the north

  The DNR’s inland trout management plan says brook and brown trout in Wisconsin usually spawn from early October into December, with the peak around mid-November. The female sweeps out a shallow pit in clean gravel, lays her eggs, and covers them; the eggs incubate there all winter. From a bridge or high bank on a sunny day, look for oval patches of gravel brighter than the streambed around them, sometimes with a dark fish holding over each one. The general inland trout season closed October 15, and the early catch-and-release season does not open until January, so the fish have the streams to themselves. Stay out of the water and off the gravel bars where you see nests.

• Black bears already denned

  Most enter dens in October · Forested country, especially the north

  The DNR says most of Wisconsin’s roughly 24,000 black bears den sometime in October and emerge in late March or early April. A bear still moving in November is a straggler; give it room, and bring feeders in at night if bears visit your area.

• Bats in the mines

  Hibernating now until spring · Caves and abandoned mines

  Four Wisconsin bats, the little brown, big brown, northern long-eared and tricolored, hibernate in caves and mines; the other four, the tree bats, migrate south. White-nose syndrome has caused declines approaching 99 percent in some cave bat populations. The DNR asks people not to enter caves or mines with bats from October 1 through May 15, because each disturbance that wakes a bat burns fat it needs to last until spring.

Which trees still hold color or leaves in a Wisconsin November?

• Tamaracks, the last to go

  Gold in the first days of November, bare by mid-month · Northwoods bogs, Central Sands wetlands, Door County swamps

  Tamarack is the only Wisconsin conifer that drops all its needles. Door County naturalists Roy and Charlotte Lukes wrote that the golden needles are gone by mid-November, leaving “genuine deciduous conifers.” A bog of bare tamaracks looks dead to a newcomer, but look closely at the twigs: tiny knobby spurs hold next year’s needle buds, and the small cones stay on through winter.

• Oaks that refuse to let go

  All winter, until new leaves push the old ones off · Young oaks and the lower branches of older ones, statewide

  Holding dead leaves into winter has a name, marcescence, and University of Illinois Extension says it is common in oaks and beeches, most of all on young trees and low branches. Nobody is certain why. The leading ideas are that the leaves shield buds from cold and drying winds, discourage deer from browsing the twigs, or drop in spring as a timely mulch.

• Witch hazel still blooming

  Into November and sometimes later · Shaded slopes and ravines, mostly in the south and center

  The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists American witch hazel as blooming from September through December. In November its spidery yellow flowers are often the only blossoms in the woods, set on bare twigs beside last year’s woody capsules.

• A Christmas tree from the national forest

  Permits on Recreation.gov; many families cut after Thanksgiving · Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

  A permit to cut one tree on the national forest costs $5 plus a handling fee on Recreation.gov, and fourth graders can get one free through Every Kid Outdoors. Balsam fir is the favorite; red and Scotch pine are popular on the Washburn district. Trees may be up to 20 feet tall, cedar and hemlock are off limits, and wilderness areas and lakeshores are excluded. Read the permit page for this year’s details before you go.

Has Wisconsin had its first freeze by November?

How much daylight does Wisconsin lose in November?

What is November weather like in Wisconsin, and what will El Niño bring this winter?

What can you see in the Wisconsin night sky in November?

• The Beaver Moon, a modest supermoon

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

  The moon is exactly full at 8:53 on Tuesday morning, so both evenings show a round moon; Tuesday’s is the closer match. EarthSky counts it as a supermoon, since the moon is near its closest point to Earth, but perigee comes about 30 hours after full, so it is only slightly larger than average. Overnight on the 23rd into the 24th it passes over or beside the Pleiades, but its glare drowns the cluster.

• Leonid meteors

  Best after moonset before dawn on Wednesday, November 18 · Look high in the east and south; the radiant in Leo rises near midnight

  Per the International Meteor Organization, the Leonids should crest on the evening of the 17th in Wisconsin, at roughly 15 per hour in ideal darkness; no outburst is predicted for 2026. Once the half moon goes down around midnight, the sky before dawn on the 18th turns dark while Leo climbs. The mornings of the 17th and 19th are worth a look too.

• Taurid fireballs

  Southern Taurids peak November 5; Northern Taurids November 12 · Taurus, high in the southeast by late evening

  Rates stay low (single digits, ten at most hourly), but Taurids drift slowly and now and then flare into fireballs. Their source is grit shed by Comet Encke, and a new moon on November 9 keeps the nights between the two maxima moonless.

• Four planets before sunrise

  Mid-November mornings; Mars and Jupiter closest on November 15 and 16 · The east and south before dawn

  Get up an hour before sunrise for this month’s planets. Venus, newly a morning object, rises a little earlier each day, hits peak dazzle in the days just before and after Thanksgiving, and on November 9 stands roughly one degree from Spica. Higher up, in Leo, Jupiter and fainter Mars draw together; their closest approach, about 1.2 degrees, comes on the 15th and 16th. Small Mercury shows best low in the east-southeast during roughly the 18th through the 25th. A very thin crescent moon sits near Venus on the 7th, though it will be hard to see so low in the twilight.

• Saturn in the evening, Uranus at opposition

  All month; Uranus at opposition November 25 · Saturn in the south after dark; Uranus near the Pleiades

  Evening watchers get one bright planet, Saturn, glowing pale gold and unblinking low in the south to southwest. Uranus is at opposition on the 25th, as close and bright as it gets; with binoculars and a star chart you can find it in Taurus, not far from the Pleiades.

• A chance of aurora

  Any clear night; no forecast is possible weeks ahead · The northern horizon, best from the Northwoods and Lake Superior shore

  NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center dates the peak of this solar cycle to October 2024; sunspots have been declining since. Strong storms still happen in the declining years, and Wisconsin’s long November nights help. Northern Wisconsin has the best odds. Check the SWPC aurora forecast on a clear evening and look north from a dark spot.

What can Wisconsin families do outdoors in November?

Safety notes for November in Wisconsin