March is mud season and sugaring season in Maine — snow still deep in the north, but the maple sap running, the first migrants returning, and the long winter finally loosening its grip. It is a month of dramatic change at the edges, even as winter holds the interior.
Week by week in March
February 26 – March 4
- The first red-winged blackbirds and common grackles return to the cattail marshes of southern Maine, the males already singing on territory.
- Sugaring is in full swing — buckets and tubing run across the maple stands as the freeze-thaw days push the sweet sap up the trunks.
- Start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant under grow lights this week for the late-May transplant date in most of the state.
March 5–11
- American robins and eastern bluebirds reappear in numbers, and turkey vultures drift back over the southern half of the state.
- In southern swamps, the mottled maroon hoods of skunk cabbage push up through the mud — the first native wildflower of the Maine year, melting its way through snow.
- The winter constellations begin sliding toward the west after dusk as Leo and the spring stars climb in the east.
March 12–18
- At dusk over wet thickets in southern Maine, the first male American woodcock begin their twittering, spiraling sky-dance — a great early-spring spectacle.
- Pussy willows pop their silvery catkins along streams and wet roadsides, and red and silver maples swell their flower buds toward opening.
- Resist working the wet, mud-season soil — walking on or digging saturated ground compacts it and damages structure for the whole season.
March 19–25
- The spring equinox arrives, balancing day and night as the sun climbs higher; the equinox season favors aurora in the dark north.
- Common loons move back onto the newly opening lakes of the interior, their wild calls returning to the North Woods, and ospreys reach their nest platforms.
- Maine Maple Sunday draws crowds to sugarhouses statewide for the fresh new-season syrup, graded from delicate golden to robust dark.
March 26 – April 1
- Red and silver maples flower, hanging their tiny red and chartreuse blossoms at the twig tips, often while snow still lies beneath them.
- Tree swallows return to snap up insects over thawing ponds, and wood ducks and ring-necked ducks crowd the opening marshes.
- In the warmest southern coastal gardens, sow the first peas, spinach, and radishes as soon as the soil can be worked.
Birds This Month
March brings the first big wave of returning birds to Maine. As inland waters and river mouths open, red-winged blackbirds and common grackles arrive and start singing from the cattails, American robins and eastern bluebirds reappear in numbers, and turkey vultures drift back over the southern half of the state. Canada geese and the first dabbling ducks — mallards, black ducks, wood ducks, ring-necked ducks — push north as the ice goes out, and great blue herons return to the marshes.
Bald eagles are now incubating, and great horned owls are on eggs or small young. Along the coast, the wintering sea ducks are still present but thinning, and red-necked and horned grebes molt toward breeding plumage offshore. Listen at dusk for the first American woodcock beginning their spiraling sky-dance over wet thickets in southern Maine, one of the great spectacles of the early spring.
What's Blooming
The first wild bloom of the Maine year arrives in March, and it is an unlikely one: skunk cabbage, whose mottled maroon hoods push up through the mud and even melt their way through snow in southern swamps and seeps, generating their own heat as they flower. It is the only native wildflower most Mainers will see this month, and only in the warmer southern lowlands.
Elsewhere the show is still in the trees and gardens. Pussy willows pop their silvery catkins along streams and wet roadsides — the classic Maine sign of spring — and the red flower buds of silver and red maples swell toward opening. In sheltered, south-facing gardens in the milder coastal zones, the very first snowdrops and winter aconite may push up through the last snow at the end of the month. The great ephemeral bloom is still weeks away.
Garden This Month
March is the busiest indoor seed-starting month for Maine gardeners. Start tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and slow flowers under grow lights now so they're ready for the late-May transplant date, and keep the early-started onions and leeks growing on. Resist the urge to work wet soil — walking on or digging saturated mud-season ground compacts it and damages structure for the whole season.
Outdoors, finish dormant pruning of apples, grapes, and shrubs before the buds break, and cut back last year's perennial stalks and ornamental grasses as they emerge from the melting snow. In the warmest southern coastal gardens, you can sow the first peas, spinach, lettuce, and radishes as soon as the soil can be worked at the very end of the month — but for most of Maine, March is still about windowsill seedlings and patience while the snow leaves.
Zone 3b (Aroostook & far north): still deep winter here, with snow on the ground all month. Keep starting seeds indoors under lights — onions, leeks, peppers, and slow flowers — for the short, intense northern season ahead.
Zone 4b (interior & mountains): snow recedes slowly. Start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant indoors mid-to-late month, and prune dormant apples and grapes on a thawed day before the buds break.
Zone 5b (Midcoast & south): the warmest gardens may work bare soil late in the month. Sow peas, spinach, and other cold-hardy crops as soon as the ground can be worked, and finish dormant pruning.
What's at the Farmers Market
March is sugaring month, and maple syrup is the star of Maine's late-winter markets — fresh from the new season's boil, graded from delicate golden to robust dark. Maine Maple Sunday near the end of the month draws crowds to sugarhouses across the state. The winter markets still carry the last of the storage crops — potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, onions, cabbage, and winter squash — though stocks are dwindling and the roots are at their sweetest.
Heated greenhouses keep spinach, kale, microgreens, and the first pea shoots coming, and farmers begin offering vegetable and flower seedlings as the indoor growing ramps up. Choose maple syrup by color and taste to your preference, store it cool and refrigerate after opening, and pick storage roots that are still firm — pass any that have gone soft or sprouted after the long winter in the cellar.
Night Sky This Month
March marks the spring equinox, when day and night reach balance and the sun climbs higher over Maine. The evening sky shifts from winter to spring: Orion and the brilliant winter stars begin sliding toward the western horizon after dusk, while Leo the Lion, led by the bright star Regulus, rises in the east, and the Big Dipper swings high overhead, its handle arcing down to orange Arcturus climbing in the northeast.
There is no major meteor shower this month, but the lengthening dusk and still-cold, clear air make for fine, comfortable stargazing before the late nights of spring set in. Watch the western sky after sunset for any bright evening planets, and the dark northern interior still catches the aurora on geomagnetically active nights near the equinox, a statistically favorable time for it. The printable Maine night-sky guide lists this year's planet positions and aurora outlook.
Butterflies & Pollinators
March is still essentially winter for Maine's butterflies — snow lingers across most of the state and the cold keeps the insects dormant. But in the warmest southern coastal corners, an exceptional warm, sunny day at the very end of the month can rouse the hardiest overwintering adults. A mourning cloak or an eastern comma, dark and ragged after the winter, may flutter briefly over melting snow before tucking back into shelter as the temperature drops.
These are the rare exceptions. The vast majority of Maine's butterflies remain in dormancy — swallowtail chrysalids waiting on twigs, fritillary caterpillars hibernating in the duff beneath the snow, and the next generation of monarchs still developing far to the south in Mexico. Real butterfly activity in Maine is still a month away, awaiting the steady warmth and the first blooms of April and May.
Trees This Month
March is the heart of Maine's sugar maple season — the freeze-thaw days drive the sweet sap up the trunks, and sugarhouses across the western hills and interior boil it down through the month. Red and silver maples are the first trees to flower, hanging their tiny red and chartreuse blossoms at the twig tips toward month's end, often while snow still lies beneath them.
The other early flowerers follow: speckled alder dangles its long catkins over wet ground, hazelnut and aspen shed pollen, and pussy willows open their silver buds along the streams. The conifers — spruce, fir, and white pine — still carry the forest's green, but the bare hardwoods are visibly stirring, their buds swelling and their twigs flushing with the rising sap. By the end of March the sugaring winds down as the buds break and the sap turns, ending the sweet season for another year.
Weather & Daylight
Across Maine, a typical March day averages a high near 37°F and a low near 17°F, with about 3.3 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Raw and unpredictable, climbing into the upper-30s by day but dropping below freezing at night as snow turns to heavy rain.
| Average high | 37°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 17°F |
| Precipitation | 3.3 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 6:51 ET |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 18:43 ET |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (ET).
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Same month elsewhere: March in Maryland · March in Massachusetts · March in Michigan