Alabama Nature Guide: November 2026
November is late fall in Alabama — the last color clings to the southern hills and the delta cypress, the Sandhill Cranes gather at Wheeler, satsumas ripen on the coast, and the wintering sparrows and ducks settle in. The cool, clear nights are excellent for stargazing, and the garden shifts to its hardy winter greens.
What to look for this week
- Sandhill Cranes crowd the fields at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge at their winter peak, bugling over the Tennessee River, while Christmas Bird Counts wrap up across the state.
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in a short, sharp burst around January 3 — best after midnight from a dark Cumberland Plateau ridge or the unlit west end of Dauphin Island.
- Camellias, the state flower, open red, pink, and white against the cold in gardens across central and south Alabama and at Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile.
Birds This Month
November settles Alabama into its winter birdlife as the wintering flocks arrive in force. The Sandhill Cranes gather in growing numbers at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge on the Tennessee River, bugling over the fields — the start of the great winter spectacle that peaks in January, sometimes with a rare Whooping Crane among them. The lakes, ponds, and the Tennessee River fill with wintering ducks — Mallard, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, and Hooded Merganser — and Bald Eagles follow the waterfowl.
Feeders and brushy edges fill with the winter sparrows and finches — White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrushes, Cedar Waxwings, and American Goldfinches — and in irruption years, Purple Finches, Pine Siskins, or Red-breasted Nuthatches may appear. On the Gulf Coast, wintering loons, grebes, gannets, ducks, and Brown Pelicans work the cold water, and wintering sparrows and the occasional Sedge Wren hide in the marsh. The state bird, the Northern Flicker (Yellowhammer), works the open fall ground.
What's Blooming
November sees Alabama's wildflowers fade toward winter, though the warm south holds color longer. The last asters linger — especially the pale lavender climbing aster draping the marsh edges and the Mobile-Tensaw Delta — and a few late goldenrod, swamp sunflower, and narrowleaf sunflower hold on in sheltered, sunny spots until the first hard frosts cut them down. The structural seed-heads now take over as the winter interest.
The standing remains of the season's flora line the fields and roadsides — the dark seed-heads of black-eyed Susan, coneflower, and ironweed, the silvery plumes of goldenrod and broomsedge, the flat umbels of Queen Anne's lace, and the splitting pods of milkweed trailing silk — a feast of seeds for the wintering sparrows and finches. In gardens, the sasanqua camellias bloom on, and the first true winter camellias (Camellia japonica), the state flower, begin to open in the warmer south, opening the long camellia season that carries through the Alabama winter.
Garden This Month
November shifts the Alabama garden toward winter, the first frosts and freezes arriving in the north while the south stays mild. The hardy cool-season crops carry the garden — harvest collards, kale, mustard, turnip greens, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, beets, turnips, and lettuce (protected), all sweetened by the cool nights and light frosts. Across the warm middle and south, the cool-season garden keeps producing well, and you can still sow quick greens and set out hardy transplants.
Protect tender crops with row covers on freeze nights, and mulch deeply over garlic, onions, strawberries, and perennial roots to insulate them through winter. This is an excellent month to plant trees, shrubs, and bare-root fruit trees in the cool, moist soil for strong root establishment, and to finish planting spring bulbs. Rake and compost the heavy leaf fall into rich mulch, sow or tend cover crops in resting beds, and clean and store tools and stakes as the season winds down. On the Gulf Coast, tend the satsumas ripening for harvest. The garden eases into its restful but never quite dormant Alabama winter.
Zone 7b (north Alabama & Cumberland Plateau): frost and the first freezes arrive. Harvest or protect the last tender crops, mulch perennials and overwintering garlic and onions, protect cool-season greens under row covers, and rake and compost the heavy leaf fall.
Zone 8a (central Alabama): the cool-season garden carries on with frost protection. Harvest collards, kale, and other hardy greens (sweetened by frost), cover tender crops on freeze nights, plant garlic and onions, and set out trees and shrubs in the cool soil.
Zone 8b (lower Coastal Plain & Gulf Coast): mild fall growing continues. Hardy greens, lettuce, and root crops grow on with little protection, satsumas and citrus ripen for harvest, and you can still sow quick greens and set out cool-season transplants.
What's at the Farmers Market
November markets in Alabama settle into the hearty fare of late fall and early winter. The cool-season crops dominate — frost-sweetened collards, kale, mustard and turnip greens, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, turnips, carrots, beets, and lettuce — and the storage crops fill out the tables: fresh-dug sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, winter squash, and pumpkins. New-crop pecans are at their abundant peak, a centerpiece of the Alabama fall harvest.
The Gulf-coast satsumas come into full season now around Mobile and Baldwin counties — easy-peeling, seedless, and sweet — a signature Alabama winter fruit, alongside the first kumquats. Storage apples and the last fall greens round out the markets, with local honey, sorghum, and stone-ground grits and cornmeal for the season. Choose pecans heavy and unblemished and freeze the shelled nuts; pick satsumas heavy for their size with loose skin; keep sweet potatoes and winter squash cool and dry but unrefrigerated; and store greens cold and damp. The markets carry the rich, comfortable harvest of the turning Alabama year.
Night Sky This Month
November's long, cool, dry nights bring excellent stargazing as the brilliant winter sky begins to climb. Alabama's dark-sky havens — the Von Braun Astronomical Society observatory at Monte Sano State Park near Huntsville, the Cumberland Plateau and Bankhead National Forest ridgelines, and the unlit Gulf beaches of west Dauphin Island — offer crisp, clear views now that the summer haze is long gone and the nights come early.
The autumn constellations ride high in the evening — the Great Square of Pegasus, Andromeda with its faint naked-eye galaxy (M31), and the W of Cassiopeia overhead — while the winter sky climbs the east: the Pleiades cluster sparkles, the Hyades and orange Aldebaran in Taurus follow, and brilliant Orion rises late in the evening to herald winter. The Leonid meteor shower peaks around mid-November, a modest show (with occasional surprises) best after midnight from a dark site. The printable Alabama night-sky guide lists this year's exact meteor-peak dates, planet positions, and the best dark-sky sites for your region.
Butterflies & Pollinators
November winds down Alabama's butterfly year, though the warm south keeps a few flying on mild days well into the month. The hardy fall stragglers persist at the last flowers and in sheltered, sunny spots — common buckeyes, cloudless sulphurs, sleepy oranges, little yellows, gulf fritillaries (in the south), painted and American ladies, and fiery skippers — and a very late monarch may still drift down the Gulf coast toward Mexico. The last asters and any lingering salvias and lantana are their final nectar.
As the freezes deepen, the butterflies retreat into their overwintering forms. The adults that pass winter as adults — mourning cloaks, eastern commas, and question marks — tuck behind loose bark, in woodpiles, and in hollow trees in the wooded uplands. The eastern tiger and other swallowtails wait out the cold as chrysalides, and many skippers and whites overwinter as eggs or larvae. Leaving the leaf litter, standing flower stems, and brush piles undisturbed through the winter — rather than tidying every bed — is the single most important thing an Alabama gardener can do to protect next year's butterflies.
Trees This Month
November carries the last of Alabama's fall color and brings the great leaf fall. The color lingers longest in the south and at the lower elevations — the oaks hold their russet, bronze, and burgundy leaves, the sweetgum keeps its mixed reds and purples, and along the rivers and the Mobile-Tensaw Delta the bald cypress glows its distinctive russet-orange and the red maples redden the swamps before dropping. The hickories and tulip trees finish their gold, and the leaves come down in drifts.
As the deciduous trees go bare, the evergreens reclaim the winter landscape — the longleaf, loblolly, and shortleaf pines, the broadleaf live oak (draped in Spanish moss in the south), southern magnolia, American holly now bright with red berries, and eastern red cedar. The American beech holds its pale tan marcescent leaves into winter, and the bare hardwoods reveal their architecture and the bird nests hidden through summer. The mast harvest finishes — the last acorns, hickory nuts, pecans, and ripe persimmons feeding the deer, turkeys, and squirrels — as the trees set their buds and settle into the mild Alabama winter dormancy.
Go deeper with the Alabama guides
The complete Alabama birding, native-plant, wildflower, and night-sky guides — or the whole year in one bundle.
Same month elsewhere: November in Arizona · November in Arkansas · November in California