Birch Compass
January 2026 — Missouri Nature Journal
What to look for this month near you, with room to record what you find.
This month in nature
Birds to watch
- Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
- Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
- Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
- American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
- Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
- Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
In bloom
- Witch-hazel in the eastern Ozark woods may open its thin yellow ribbon petals on the mildest January days.
In the garden
- Order seeds early before popular tomato and pepper varieties sell out, and prune dormant fruit trees on mild days.
- Start onion and leek seeds indoors under lights now, the slowest transplants to get a head start on spring.
- Keep mulch heaped over perennials and strawberry beds; Missouri's freeze-thaw heaves shallow roots right out of the ground.
- Start the earliest brassica seeds indoors and finish dormant pruning of grapes and fruit trees before buds swell.
Night sky
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks around January 3 in a short, sharp burst; look toward the northeast after midnight from a dark Ozark sky.
- Orion stands high in the south after dark; trace down his belt to brilliant Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.
- The Pleiades star cluster and the V-shaped Hyades of Taurus ride high overhead in the early evening.
My field notes