The accounts of bird activity over the past month as 2025 turns the page to 2026 are written in data. Before Christmas Bird Counts started this year, questions were being asked and discussions were occurring about winter birds. Now observations have been made through an organized process of “citizen science,” and the results will be wrapped up and available for discussion.
Information can become addictive. One week has passed in 2026 and watching birds come and go from a birdfeeder draw some people in like a magnet. Identifying each species and watching moments in their lives takes up a portion of the first month of 2026 and has already turned some wanting more connection to the lives of others.
If firsthand experience presents reality, does that help distinguish the fiction from the nonfiction in what is heard, read, and experienced through secondhand interpretations? Discovery can feed and build curiosity. Pick anything occurring in our experience and try to understand it, and find where to learn more to evaluate and build understanding.
Writing provides an opportunity for reflection on firsthand experience and research to explore. Over 50 years ago, through childhood, education through graduation to degrees, and then beginning naturalist work, reading was always important. Fiction and nonfiction provided an understanding of the difference. Varied authors and genres bring a variety of stories. Some writing that stands out over time entailed observations from experiences in various fields and research interests.
During the first week of 2026, when turning away from the addictive birdfeeder, thoughts can be discovered in reading that haven’t been or is difficult to see. The picture of this ermine represents an experience of a species that has a life and story outside of any of my ongoing experiences. Some mammals, like deer, squirrels, beavers, bears, etc., are relatively often seen and have wide geographic ranges. Other mammals range from nocturnal, local ranges, seasonal activity, etc., which makes understanding the facts and fictional “truths” of their life stories commonly questioned.
Species stories were recalled recently, due to discussions of delisting wolves at a local meeting. Having grown up outside the range of timberwolves but lived the past 50 years in Ely, where education, wildlife management, and discussions of wolf relations continue to question the difference between fiction and nonfiction. By turning my back on the bird feeders after one week passing in 2026, returning to the carnivores of the area creates a greater challenge to understanding both them and humans.
While working as a naturalist after college, the reading of The Fisher written by Roger Powell provided a story entirely outside of my experience. A new life story outside of any experience with the species was an exploration. Years later, another discovery occurred in Ely. While teaching and meeting many nature writers and wildlife researchers, the realization that Roger and Consie Powell lived in Ely brought the presence of nature writing, research, illustrating, knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, life stories, and more books into northeastern Minnesota’s resources.
January 2026, week two has begun and the year schedule lies ahead. Review all the opportunities to explore the book written and illustrated by Roger and Consie. Visit the libraries, Naturalist Resource Center, local bookstores and used bookstores to find books in or out of print. Develop public programs on phenology and stories that explore the fiction and non-fiction that exists to confuse or understand beliefs, relationships, and the treatment of life around us.
Hopefully, Roger and Consie, other writers, artists, and others in the community will continue to assist each other in appreciating and understanding and living with all that exists around us. Let’s make next year at this time a celebration of positive collective community achievements. Seek to recognize the balance attainable when everyone contributes.
