Nooksack Winter Raptor Survey - December 2025

[Stephen Chase]

Hello Whatcom Birds,

Today my son Ezra enjoyed his inaugural winter raptor survey, as he joined Josiah and me on our survey of the northeast quadrant of the Nooksack Valley. The long-range forecast looks wet, and we need to get a survey completed in December, so despite what looked like poor weather, we struck out. The weather cooperated for the first couple hours, but the wind picked up mid-survey, soon followed by rain and even a touch of wintry mix east of Deming.

Bald Eagles carried today - as they always do in December. We counted 119 (54 adults, 65 subadults). Often they were found in groups, feasting on farm casualties or salmon. Perhaps the most interesting congregation was along the Sumas River and its tributaries (farm ditches) along Oat Coles and Massey Road, where dead Coho salmon were littered along the creek banks. I don't think these salmon are flood casualties - just kelt having completed their life objective. Since the Sumas River drains north into the Vedder Canal and then into the Fraser, these particular salmon would be from the Fraser River's runs.

We had only 14 Red-tailed Hawks; they got off to a good start, but their numbers dropped off significantly as the wind and rain came in. We counted 10 American Kestrels, a solid above-average number. We also found two Northern Harriers, both females. Harriers and Kestrels were most abundant in the Hampton/Trapline area north of Everson, as usual. No other raptors were found, which means we had only four raptor species on this particular survey. All totaled up: 145 raptors - well above our average of 102!

Trumpeter Swans were abundant today working through the muddy farm fields, as were gulls. Hundreds of Short-billed Gulls and an eclectic mix of hybrids and other large Larus gulls were present in nearly all agricultural areas along our route. On the corner of Emerson and Highway 9 we picked out an Iceland (Thayer's) Gull, always a fun treat! We tripped into a number of blackbird flocks as well, each consisting mostly of Red-winged Blackbirds, but also some Brewer's Blackbirds, and a few Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Our project coordinator, Jeff Fleischer of East Cascades Bird Alliance, just shared the November data sheet for all 654 routes on this massive multi-state project. Combing through the data, I see that the Lynden South survey is vacant, and thus available for a volunteer to take over; in fact, it's the only vacant survey in northwest Washington. The survey covers some prime raptor areas in the Hannegan Flats, and it would be a shame to not have raptor data from this zone. If you're interested in covering this survey, I'm happy to share Jeff's contact info.

By the way, Ezra picked out three birds (2 BAEAs, 1 RTHA) that Josiah and I might have otherwise missed. We appreciated his contributions! He says it was more fun than he was expecting and that he plans to join us again. Woo-hoo!

Happy holidays,

Stephen Chase