Nature Happenings

  • Great Backyard Bird Count, mid-month, birdcount.org
  • February is National Bird Feeding Month
  • Project FeederWatch continues, feederwatch.org
  • Ruby-throated Hummingbirds reach the Gulf Coast in late February.
  • Early migrant warblers, including the Northern Parula, start to arrive along the Gulf Coast.
  • Have houses ready for Purple Martins that will return by end of the month.
  • Be sure to have nesting boxes ready for bluebirds as they select their nesting territories this month.
  • Barred Owls and Eastern Screech-Owls are courting.
  • As days lengthen, Tufted Titmice and cardinals begin to sing.
  • Sandhill Cranes can be seen migrating north in late February.
  • Smith's Longspurs will be on their way back to the Arctic by the end of the month.
  • American Robin spring migration begins in February.
  • Flocks of Cedar Waxwings can be seen feeding on berries.

From Our Friends at IFAS

Birds
Early purple martin scouts will start to appear in Florida this month. Now is the time to raise bird houses or gourds.
Screech owls begin nesting in the central region of the state.
South Florida should start seeing wild turkey (the bird) and quail breeding activity.
Ospreys will begin nesting in north Florida near the end of the month.
North Florida woodcocks begin courtship behavior. Listen at dusk for their "peenting" in open fields.
Magnificent Frigatebirds begin nesting in mangroves in the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.
Pileated Woodpeckers begin their mating season and will start announcing territories by drumming on various objects including houses and telephone poles.
Others who are beginning their nesting season include: Little Blue and Tri-colored Herons, Wood and Mottled Ducks, and Snail Kites.
Purple Finches and Pine Siskins will leave our feeders and begin their migration back to northern nesting areas.
Wild Turkeys mate in south Florida
Swallow-tailed kites begin returning to Florida from South America
Mammals
Eastern Moles are breeding this month in tunnels under our lawns.
Striped Skunks begin their breeding season.
Pocket Gophers begin their spring breeding season.
Reptiles
Alligator snapping turtles will start mating this month, with nesting activity throughout the spring.
Gopher tortoises seldom seen outside burrows
Fishing
Crappie and Striped bass are spawning
Large schools of Spanish mackeral roam Florida Bay
Plants
Look for yellow jessamine in treetops
Trilliums and dogtooth violets bloom in Panhandle Ravines