Birch Compass
January 2026 — New Jersey 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
- Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
- Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
In bloom
- Nothing in flower here this month. The next to open are usually Swamp Pink and Pinxter Flower, around April — worth knowing where to be when they do.
In the garden
- A planning week at the kitchen table — order seeds, sketch next year's beds, and leave any snow banked over perennials as insulation against the cold.
- On a mild day, prune apples and pears while their structure is bare, but wait on oaks until the deepest cold to avoid spreading oak wilt.
- Set up the grow-light shelf and start the slowest seedlings — onions, leeks, and celery — for transplants you'll set out in spring.
Night sky
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in a short, sharp burst around January 3; watch the northeast after midnight from a dark Pine Barrens or shore site.
- Orion dominates the southern sky, his three-star belt pointing down to brilliant Sirius low in the southeast — the cold, dry air gives crystal-clear views.
- The Winter Hexagon of bright stars — Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel — sprawls across the long, dark January sky.
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