Birch Compass
January 2026 — Maine Nature Journal
What to look for this month near you, with room to record what you find.
This month in nature
Birds to watch
- American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
- Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
- Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus
- American Goldfinch Spinus tristis
- Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius
In bloom
A quiet month here — watch and note what you find.
In the garden
- A planning week — order seeds early, especially the short-season varieties northern Maine gardens depend on, before the popular ones sell out.
- Keep snow banked over perennial and strawberry beds as insulation, and knock heavy wet snow off arborvitae and shrubs before it breaks them.
- Set up the grow-light shelf and start the slowest seedlings — onions, leeks, and celery — for transplants you'll set out in May.
Night sky
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in a short, sharp burst around January 3; bundle up and watch the northeast after midnight from a dark site away from town.
- Orion dominates the southern sky, his belt pointing down to brilliant Sirius low in the southeast — the cold, dry air makes for crystal-clear viewing.
- The Winter Hexagon of bright stars — Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel — sprawls across the long, dark January sky.
My field notes