Nooksack Winter Raptor Survey - January 2026

[Stephen Chase]

Hello Whatcom Birds,

Today my sons Josiah and Ezra set off with me on our January 2026 raptor survey of the Hampton and Sumas Flats areas of Whatcom County. The weather was stunning, and the raptors were active. Our highlight: 19 American Kestrels! Eight of these stunning falcons were found in the Hampton Ponds area north of Everson. This constitutes an all-time high count for kestrels for our specific survey, and incredibly tied our Red-tailed Hawk numbers for today's survey; usually Red-tails outnumber kestrels by more than 2:1. We counted five Northern Harriers, including great views of one feeding on the ground east of Sumas. As always, Bald Eagles were our most numerous raptor; we counted 70, evenly split between adults and subadults at 35 apiece. Just twelve were found along the Nooksack River visible from Truck Road; the salmon runs appear to be phasing out for the season. One Cooper's Hawk and one Merlin rounded out the raptor numbers for the survey. In total we counted 115 raptors, a respectably above-average number.

Swans, gulls, and dabbling ducks were widespread on the flats. A flock of 200ish Trumpeter Swans continues off Massey Road just south of Everson. A large flock of Cackling Geese surprised us off Highway 9 south of Hopewell. A single Western Meadowlark was briefly seen flying low over corn fields on Northwood Road. I'm sure more were nearby. Our most interesting non-raptor, however, was a rare-for-January Barn Swallow on Leibrandt Road east of Nooksack! Ezra snapped a picture to prove the sighting. 

Keep your eyes to the skies! There are good birds to be seen in the north county!

In Everson,

Stephen Chase