New Jersey Nature Guide: February 2026
Data updated: August 2026Sources & method · Corrections
February is late winter in New Jersey — still cold, but the days lengthen noticeably and the first stirrings of the year appear. Cardinals and titmice begin to sing, Great Horned Owls are already nesting, and on the warmest afternoons skunk cabbage pushes up through the frozen muck of the swamps.
Week by week in February
January 29 – February 4
- On milder mornings, northern cardinals begin whistling their clear spring song and titmice ring out 'peter-peter' — the first audible turn toward the new year.
- The Orion Nebula, hanging in the hunter's sword, is a fine binocular and telescope target on the clear, cold nights from a dark site.
- Set up the grow-light shelf and start the slowest seedlings — onions, leeks, and celery — for transplants you'll set out in spring.
February 5–11
- Great horned owls are already on eggs in old hawk and heron nests, hooting through the long February nights across the state.
- Skunk cabbage pushes its mottled maroon hoods up through frozen swamp muck, generating its own heat to melt the surrounding ice — the year's first bloom.
- Auriga's pentagon holds bright Capella nearly overhead, and the brilliant winter sky stays on full display through the long, clear nights.
February 12–18
- Snow geese and tundra swans still mass at Forsythe and the Delaware Bay marshes, and bald eagle nesting is underway along the Delaware River.
- Sugar-maple sap begins to run in the northern Highlands as nights freeze and days thaw — the brief window for tapping.
- Finish dormant pruning of apples, pears, and grapes before the sap rises, and cut back last year's ornamental grasses.
February 19–25
- The buds of red and silver maple swell and redden, tinting the swamp canopy weeks before any leaves appear.
- The first maple syrup of the year appears at northern farm stands as the sugaring season hits its freeze-thaw stride.
- Leo the lion climbs in the east after dark, his backward-question-mark sickle and bright star Regulus marking the spring sky's arrival.
Birds This Month
February brings the first audible turn of the year. On milder mornings, northern cardinals whistle their clear spring song, tufted titmice ring out their "peter-peter," and black-capped chickadees begin the two-note "fee-bee." Great horned owls are already on eggs in old hawk and heron nests across the state, hooting through the long nights, and red-tailed hawks begin their soaring courtship over the Piedmont fields.
Winter birds are still the main event. The coast holds wintering long-tailed ducks, brant, loons, and scoters, and the Barnegat jetties still shelter harlequin ducks and purple sandpipers. The Delaware Bay marshes and the Forsythe refuge concentrate snow geese by the thousands, tundra swans, northern harriers, and bald eagles — eagle nesting along the Delaware River and South Jersey is already underway by late month.
This month's tip: watch the open water below dams and at warm-water outflows, where waterfowl and eagles concentrate, and listen at dusk for the early hooting of nesting great horned owls.
What's Blooming
The first bloom of the New Jersey year is an odd one: skunk cabbage, whose mottled maroon hoods push up through the frozen muck of swamps and seeps as early as February, generating their own heat to melt surrounding snow and ice. It is a genuine wildflower, just an unusual one, drawing the first flies of the year. By late month, in the mildest southern gardens, snowdrops and winter aconite nose up, and the swelling buds of red maple and silver maple tint the swamp canopy red before any leaves appear. The catkins of hazelnut, alder, and pussy willow begin to lengthen along stream edges. It is still mostly a season of structure and held color, but the very first hints of spring are real now.
Garden This Month
February gardening in New Jersey is mostly indoor work, but the first real tasks of the year arrive. Set up the grow-light shelf and start the slowest crops — onions, leeks, celery, and early brassicas — that need a long head start for spring transplanting. It's also the last good window for dormant pruning of apples, pears, and grapes before the sap rises, and for cutting back ornamental grasses and last year's perennial stalks before new growth pushes.
Resist the urge to pull mulch or uncover beds too early; late hard frosts are still the rule statewide, and the freeze-thaw of late winter heaves shallow-rooted perennials. On a mild, dry day, prune summer-blooming shrubs and remove storm-damaged branches. Test stored seed for viability, clean and sharpen tools, and order any remaining seeds and bare-root stock so they arrive in time for the spring planting that begins in earnest next month in the south.
Zone 6a (northwestern Highlands): still deep winter — keep beds mulched and snow-insulated. Late in the month, start onions, leeks, and the slowest seedlings indoors under lights; outdoor work is weeks away yet at this elevation.
Zone 7a (central & southern New Jersey): a good month to finish dormant pruning of apples, pears, and grapes while the structure is bare, and to start onions, leeks, and early brassicas indoors under lights for spring transplanting.
Zone 7b (southern shore & Cape May): the mildest gardens can sow peas, spinach, and other hardy greens toward the end of the month if the soil is workable, and cold frames extend the earliest sowings here.
What's at the Farmers Market
February markets in New Jersey still lean on the storage harvest and the winter greenhouses. Look for storage onions, garlic, carrots, beets, parsnips, potatoes, and winter squash still keeping well, along with cabbage and the late-keeping apples from cold storage. Heated hoop houses supply the freshest things on the table: spinach, kale, mâche, and Asian greens, all sweetened by the cold.
The first hint of spring arrives in the form of maple syrup — the sap runs in the northern hills in late winter, and the earliest syrup of the year begins to appear at farm stands. Jarred preserves, honey, and eggs round out the offerings. Store roots cool, dark, and humid, and keep squash somewhere cool and dry. Choose greens with crisp, unwilted leaves, and use them quickly; unlike roots, they don't keep. The market is still quiet, but the turn toward spring has begun.
Night Sky This Month
February nights remain long and the air stays clear and cold, keeping the brilliant winter sky on full display. Orion still rides high in the south after dark, flanked by his hunting dogs — Canis Major with blazing Sirius, and Canis Minor with Procyon. Overhead, the pentagon of Auriga holds bright Capella, and the Winter Hexagon sprawls across the whole southern sky.
As the evening grows later, the winter stars slide west and spring's leading edge appears: Leo the lion climbs in the east, and the faint, hazy Beehive Cluster in Cancer can be glimpsed with binoculars between Gemini and Leo. There is no major meteor shower this month, so February is for steady deep-sky viewing — the Orion Nebula, hanging in the hunter's sword, is a fine binocular and telescope target from a dark site.
For the darkest skies, head to the heart of the Pine Barrens or the southern shore points away from the city light domes. Exact planet positions shift year to year — the printable New Jersey night-sky guide gives this year's specifics for your region.
Butterflies & Pollinators
Butterflies remain dormant through a New Jersey February, though the season's first flight is now only weeks away. The overwintering mourning cloak still sleeps as an adult behind loose bark and in woodpiles, and on a genuinely warm, sunny late-February afternoon — rare, but it happens — one may briefly take wing, the very first butterfly of the year. Eastern commas and question marks also overwinter as adults and can stir on the warmest days. Monarchs are still far south in Mexico, and the Pine Barrens pine elfins wait as chrysalides among the pitch pines. This is the time to finish planning a butterfly garden and to start milkweed and nectar-plant seeds that need cold stratification, so they're ready to set out when the season turns. Leaving last year's leaf litter and standing stems undisturbed protects the dormant chrysalides and sheltering adults until spring.
What to plant for them is in the New Jersey native plants guide
Trees This Month
New Jersey's trees are still bare and dormant, but late February shows the first quickening. The buds of red maple and silver maple swell and redden, tinting the swamp canopy weeks before leaf-out, and the sap of sugar maple begins to run in the northern Highlands as nights freeze and days thaw — the brief window for tapping. The lengthening catkins of American hazelnut, speckled alder, and the silvery buds of pussy willow mark the stream edges and wet woods.
The evergreens still carry the green: American holly on the coastal plain, pitch pine and Atlantic white cedar in the Pine Barrens, and eastern hemlock and white pine in the Highlands. The bare deciduous trees are at their most legible — the shaggy strips of shagbark hickory, the white mottled upper trunks of sycamore, and the persistent marcescent leaves of beech and young oaks all read clearly in the low winter light.
The New Jersey native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across New Jersey, a typical February day averages a high near 43°F and a low near 25°F, with about 2.9 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Still wintry but easing slightly, with chilly mid-40s afternoons and freezing nights that keep frost lingering on the ground.
| Average high | 43°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 25°F |
| Precipitation | 2.9 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 6:52 ET |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 17:32 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).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when New Jersey's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
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The complete New Jersey birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: February in New Mexico · February in New York · February in North Carolina