Nooksack Winter Raptor Survey - November 2025

[Stephen Chase]

Hello Whatcom Birds,

Today my son Josiah and I began our fifth season of formally counting raptors by completing the November 2025 edition of the ECBA (formerly ECAS) Winter Raptor Survey. This survey covers the "Nooksack" route, which includes the Nooksack and Sumas River floodplains in the northeast quadrant of the lowland county.

The sun was out, the maples were vibrant, and raptors were out and about! We hardly went five minutes without seeing one. Our highlight was a Rough-legged Hawk on Rock Road east of Sumas. This species was all but absent in the county last winter, and so we were pleased to add this individual to what appears to be a healthy number of Rougies wintering in Whatcom County this season. Bald Eagles were often found in pairs, suggesting resident breeding birds, but in the Deming-Welcome stretch, we found a number of presumed migrants already working the salmon run. We counted 39 Bald Eagles in total, including 11 on Truck Road. We're still early for the big eagle numbers expected in December and January. Red-tailed Hawks (20) and American Kestrels (11) were widespread and found in good numbers. We've noticed an uptick in kestrels in the last two seasons. We also had  seven Northern Harriers, one Peregrine Falcon, one Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk, and one unidentified buteo (which we considered for Harlan's Hawk, but couldn't confirm). We counted 81 raptors in total, above our average of 62 for November surveys.

Notable non-raptors included many Trumpeter Swans recently arrived on wintering grounds, at least 40 Western Meadowlarks in two flocks (Jones Road, Massey Road), and hundreds upon hundreds of Short-billed Gulls throughout the dormant farm fields. After we completed the survey, we walked a loop around South Fork County Park, where we found our favorite honorary raptor: a Northern Shrike.

It was a beautiful day out counting raptors, and we're excited to be underway on the 2025-2026 season of the Winter Raptor Survey!

In Everson,

Stephen Chase