Birch Compass
January 2026 — Delaware 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
- Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
- Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
- Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
- American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
- Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
In bloom
A quiet month here — watch and note what you find.
In the garden
- A kitchen-table planning week — order seeds and sketch beds, leaving any snow banked over perennials as insulation against the coastal-plain freeze-thaw.
- A safe window for dormant pruning of apples, peaches, and oaks while the trees are bare and the disease-spreading beetles are inactive.
- Late in the month, start onions and leeks indoors under lights for an early start to the long First State season.
Night sky
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in a short, sharp burst around January 3; watch the northeast after midnight from a dark Cape Henlopen or lower-Sussex site.
- Orion dominates the southern sky, his belt pointing down to brilliant Sirius low in the southeast; the cold, dry air gives crystal-clear views.
- The Winter Hexagon — Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel — sprawls clear across the cold Delaware sky.
My field notes