Birch Compass
January 2026 — Kentucky 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
- Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
- Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
In bloom
- Nothing in flower here this month. The next to open are usually Trout Lily, around March — worth knowing where to be when they do.
In the garden
- A planning week — order seeds early, especially for the cool eastern mountains, before the popular varieties sell out.
- The safest window to prune oaks is now, while they're dormant and oak-wilt beetles are inactive; prune apples on a mild day.
- Late in the month, start onions and leeks under grow lights for an early Bluegrass garden.
Night sky
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in a short, sharp burst around January 3; watch overhead after midnight from a dark site like the Red River Gorge.
- 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.
Birds: species recorded on the USGS Breeding Bird Survey. Monthly presence describes typical seasonal timing modeled from regional patterns, not month-by-month counts.
My field notes