Around Birch Bay / Raptor Ridge

August 13, 2025

Around Birch Bay

Today was planned as a day off the bikes, with me dropping the Rodriguez off at Cafe Velo on the first day it's open this week. With a day or two of rain ahead, I might have put the maintenance work off until then if I hadn't pulled up lame with a flat tire yesterday. I get an early start to the day, having breakfast at home and then dropping off the bike at 8 as soon as Cafe Velo opens its doors.

White sheep at morning. That must be an omen of some kind. Birder's delight?

I could have had breakfast at the cafe, but I want to head for the coast for some birding first thing, taking advantage of the high tide. After a half hour drive I arrive at my first stop, Sandy Point: a short, southward-oriented spit that's the hottest of the local hotspots listed on eBird. There are several species I'm hoping to add to the year's list that have been sighted here recently: Brandt's cormorants seem likely, but also there's a chance for western sandpipers, black-bellied plovers, or even a red phalarope. I'd really love to see a red phalarope, a species I only remember seeing a few times - most memorably near Hyannis in the Sand Hills of Nebraska half a century ago on my ride west from Indiana to Montana.

The short spit is split by a small inlet. The west side is developed by a small marina and an access-restricted residential community and golf course. There's a bit of housing on the west side too, but most of this side of the spit is a small protected nature preserve, with an unpaved loop path following the waterline to its southern tip and back. I park the car at the north end and start walking south, starting on the bay side.

Looking across the inlet at Sandy Point, a small, southward-facing spit north of Lummi Island.

There aren't many birds at all along this stretch. I see a few Brewer's blackbirds rising up from the uncut grass, and a pair of gulls - one a glaucous-winged, the other ring-billed - perched atop adjacent pilings; and I hear crows and a ring-billed dove in the distance, but that's it.

Until I see this bird perched on a rock out in the bay: a whimbrel, a bird I didn't expect or hope to see here today. It's the best shot I've ever gotten of this striking species, and it makes the drive worthwhile even if I turned back here.

It's a short walk to the end of the spit, where I stop and look across the open water. There are quite a few birds visible here - mostly gulls, bobbing on the water made choppy by a fairly strong breeze from the south. There are perching spots too though, on the channel markers locating the entrance to the bay and marina. It's on these that I see the birds I most expected to find here, Brandt's cormorants.

We're standing at the end of the spit. I should have taken a broader shot to be sure, but I think we're looking here across the Georgia Strait at Saturna Island, with Lummi Island and the tip of Mount Constitution just off-frame on the left.

#187: Brandt's cormorants: 3 of them, as the channel marker helpfully indicates for us. They're the ones on the edges, with a gull and a double-crested cormorant splitting them.

I stare for awhile far out into the open water hoping for other unusual species, but see nothing new. Then I start scanning the shoreline and see a few peeps scurrying around, close enough that I get several good shots. There are only four or five birds, staying close together like they're a small flock, and I'm surprised when I get back to see that they're a blended family.

That's it for birding here, so I head back to the car following the eastern side of the spit. I'm surprised to see that the narrow dirt trail is blocked by a pickup truck, apparently there in support of some sort of work taking place on the rocky shore just below.

There's room for me to skirt it through the cut grass on one side, but as approach the truck the work crew returns and then the driver starts negotiating a U-turn in the small space available. I back up and wait until he's done so as to not complicate his job, and then continue on. Now though I wish I'd thought to take a photograph of the scene, now that I know what was going on. A few minutes later a man walking my direction stops to talk. He's the driver, and has an alarming, tragic story to tell me- one I hear him relating to the next walker behind me after I've moved on. I suspect it's a story he'll retell many times and remember for the rest of his life.

He's a local, and was out here earlier on his morning walk when he spotted a large crate of salmon washed up on the rocks. It's flotsam from a catastrophe that occurred off the coast of Point Roberts two days earlier when a fishing vessel capsized and sank in a large swell caused by Monday's strong winds. The boat was manned by a pair of Indian brothers, presumably Lummis. One drowned, and the other survived after staying afloat on the open sea for about 45 minutes before help arrived.

The surviving brother was in the truck this morning, part of the salvage crew.

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It's another 20 minute drive to my second planned stop, the state park at Birch Bay. It's a spot where I'm hopeful of seeing waders out in the shallows working the outgoing tide, but it's a disappointment today. There are a few birds to add to the day's tally but nothing new and nothing worth taking a shot of - who needs another photo of a great blue heron, after all? - so before long I'm back in the car heading north and back to Semiahmoo Spit.

And Semiahmoo is definitely worth the repeat visit. I spend some time on the beach along the spit itself, and then drive to the north end and park by the old ferry terminal. One bird after another keeps showing up, and I come away with two more new species for the year - a group of four or five oystercatchers and a pair of harlequin ducks - and the best shot I've ever gotten of a belted kingfisher. I drive home happy, with five new birds for the year bring me closer to 200, and three or four lifetime-best photographs.

And, to top it off, my elbow pain is virtually gone so these four rest days have done their trick. And my vision is good. And I finally got my test results back from Friday's blood test, and those results were excellent too. At this point, all the evidence points to a successful transition off of cortisone.

Something's rotten along Semiahmoo Spit.

Here's our token great blue heron, trying to blend in with about five hundred cormorants.

#190 Harlequin duck (female). The females are interesting with that large eye ring, but they're nowhere near as eye-catching as their mates in breeding season. I'm not sure, but this might be. Lifetime first sighting.

I don't think I've ever seen a male harlequin duck at this time of year, but I'll keep looking. While I wait, here's what we're hoping to see (downloaded from All About Birds).

In the meantime we'll make do with these two love birds.

I took this shot to prove to Karen that Semiahmoo has purple martin nests too, but then noticed that there are two different birds here.

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I've not been home long and am busy culling through photographs when Rachael returns from her hike - another 12 miler up into the Chuckanut Mountains, this time following the trail to Lost Lake until she comes to a spur that climbs up to a viewpoint at the top of the ridge.

Raptor Ridge Hike

Another hike up the Lost Lake trail but with a different destination. Raptor Ridge is higher up than my previous hikes and has spectacular views! Most of the trail was the same so I only have a few photos. I’d rate this hike as an A+! I saw other hikers and bikers on the way but no one at the top.

A bracket fungus up at the top. I’ve never seen one before.

Looking down on the pines from the top. This is the only spot on the hike with pine trees.

The views from the top were incredible!

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Today's list: Western gull, Small-billed gull, Glaucous-winged gull, California gull, Ring-billed gull, Rock pigeon, Eurasian collared dove, Mourning dove, Barn swallow, Purple Martin, Great blue heron, Least sandpiper, Western sandpiper*, Harlequin duck*, Double-crested cormorant, Pelagic cormorant*, Killdeer, Common loon,European starling, American crow, Brewer's blackbird, Belted kingfisher,Whimbrel*, Black oystercatcher* (24)

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Kathleen JonesGood to hear the good news on the physical front, Scott. And Rachael back to chalking up near-half marathons.
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