Drayton Harbor

MDB8 · **Posted:** Apr 19 6:17 pm

Another location I've never heard of before.

After reading that Whimbrels had been seen there, I decided I needed to go to Costco in Washington and stop by to take a look at this location (at Blaine).

I Googled it and also found a website that discussed it. It is considered one of the best places in Washington State to find shorebirds and their comrades.

I only checked out the area that is opposite of the White Rock Pier across Semiahmoo Bay. The harbor is quite large, too large to view at one time. There is a dirty pier at the end of the spit that lies opposite the White Rock Pier. Lots of bird detritus on the pier.

The tide was low when I visited and the above-mentioned website suggested that low tide was not a good time to visit as the birds would be too far out and at high tide the birds would be hiding or resting somewhere.

I only saw one shorebird and that was a single Greater Yellowlegs. I did spot some brown spots too far away to ID. I did hear the raucous sounds of Caspian Terns and there were many Grebes, Loons, Scoters, and Cormorants visible in the harbor. I did photograph the Red-necked Grebes, looking nicely red. The Horned Grebes were also in breeding colours. I was too far away to ID the Cormorants. There was a good-sized flock of Cormorants sitting on some rocks some distance away. In the far distance looking south I could see what looked like a beach at low tide. There were many black spots in that area.

The harbor is roughly circular with spits almost closing the area off from the ocean, one spit on each side of the opening to the harbor. From looking at a map, it appears that if I drive south to Birch Bay I can take a road around the other side through Semiahmoo Park and check out the ocean and harbor sides of that area right up to the harbor entrance in Blaine.

I'll take the advice on visiting during an intermediate tide next time.

MDB8 · **Posted:** Apr 22 9:53 am

I pulled some photos off of my memory card.

Firstly, the Red-necked Grebe with his pompadour up.

Secondly, while standing on the pier at the harbor entrance and looking into the harbor, I noticed a large number of Cormorants sitting or standing on or around what appear to be nests. I thought that this was odd as a Bald Eagle would surely consider such a set up to be a picnic table.

In the distance there is the beach with a path paralleling it. The tide is out at the time of the photo. Lots of black spots were visible in the distance.

Birder2000 · **Joined:** Jul 17 7:29 pm **Posts:** 580

I have been to Drayton Harbor once (March), and I saw tons of birds and bird species.

Drayton Harbor

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