Birch Compass
January 2026 — Kansas Nature Journal
What to look for this month near you, with room to record what you find.
This month in nature
Birds to watch
- Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
- Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus
- House Sparrow Passer domesticus
- Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
- Horned Lark Eremophila alpestris
- European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
In bloom
- Little bluestem still glows wine-red across the Flint Hills slopes as the cured tallgrass catches the low winter light.
In the garden
- Order seed now around heat- and drought-tolerant Kansas crops, and plan the windbreak every prairie garden needs.
- Replace mulch the wind has stripped from perennial crowns and overwintered garlic across central Kansas.
- Start onion and leek seed indoors under lights for an early start on the long Kansas summer ahead.
- Start pepper and the first tomato seed indoors under lights for the long season ahead.
Night sky
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks around January 3 in a short, sharp burst; look to the northeast after midnight from a dark Flint Hills sky.
- Brilliant Orion stands due south in the evening with the Orion Nebula glowing in his sword.
- The brilliant Dog Star Sirius sparkles low in the southeast in Canis Major below Orion.
My field notes