Birch Compass
January 2026 — Indiana Nature Journal
What to look for this month near you, with room to record what you find.
This month in nature
Birds to watch
- European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
- Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
- Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
- American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
- American Goldfinch Spinus tristis
- Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
In bloom
A quiet month here — watch and note what you find.
In the garden
- A planning week — order seeds early, especially short-season varieties for northern Indiana, before they sell out.
- The safest window to prune oaks is now, while they're dormant and oak-wilt beetles are inactive; prune fruit trees on a mild day.
- Set up the grow-light shelf and start the slowest seedlings — onions, leeks, and celery — for transplants you'll set out in spring.
- Resist pulling mulch off perennial beds — Indiana's late-winter thaws are reliably followed by another hard freeze.
Night sky
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in a short, sharp burst around January 3; watch the northeast after midnight from a dark rural site.
- Orion dominates the southern evening sky, his belt pointing down to brilliant Sirius low in the southeast on these clear, cold nights.
- The Winter Hexagon — Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel — sprawls across the long January night.
My field notes