Going Well, If A Bit Odd

So, we find ourselves on January 20, 2026 with 54 species of birds ID’ed and two species of wildflowers in bloom. In addition, we found two other wildflowers close to ‘in bloom’ status. If you’re interested you can see our past efforts and progress here.

Let’s talk birds first.

Our goal is to get 6 more species before the first of Feb. There is a Short-eared owl that has been evading us (but being seen regualry by others) out in the valley. So that is high on our list. We remain convinced that Redpolls are still present at the Law Enforcement Academy. And, there are three or four species of ducks being seen at Lakeside.

The curse of being a working person is that we have a bit less time available during the daylight hours to go birding M-F. But the regular income reaaaally helps keep the Lab fed, food on the table for the humans, and gas in the Adventuremobile.

Okay. Now let’s talk flowers. That’s the odd part.

Seriously!? Two species in full bloom and two ready to pop less than 30 days into winter. Seeing flowers in bloom, in Helena, in January was not on my Bingo Card, so to speak. It feels like this is on the edge of catastrophic and it may well be, but truth be told, I don’t know. I’m sure this must have happened in the past, but I certainly never saw it.

Part of me is concerned about the phenology of it all. The natural systems are so conditioned to occur at specific times of year. Pollinators need to be here when flowers are in bloom- that’s just how it works. At the same time, organisms have always ‘experimented’ with how they operate. That’s how change in characteristics over time have come into the mix.

I probably just need to chill. A few plants blooming in January is not necessarily bad- as long as most of the plants bloom when they should and get pollinated as they should. I’m probably just seeing genetic variation playing out- a few plants feel the warmth and try blossoming out. They don’t get pollinated, and their early-riser genes get culled.

So, it’s probably okay- and I have two flowers right now. That’s pretty cool.