Birch Bay

History

Local indigenous communities named this place Say-wak, meaning "people saved from a flood by building a raft." Captains of Spanish ships from Acapulco and San Blas (Spanish west coast ports in Mexico) were in this area in 1791 and 1792 and named it Puerto del Garzon in 1791 by captain Jose Maria Narvaez. It was then renamed Birch Bay in 1792 by Archibald Menzies, a member of the Vancouver Expedition. Vancouver's two ships used Birch Bay as an anchorage for several days. Menzies noted a number of species of birch and gave the name to the bay. In the 2000s, the development of condominiums and vacation homes became more prominent in Birch Bay due to high demand from wealthier clientele in the United States and Canada. A proposal to incorporate the community as a city was announced in 2023 following earlier attempts and discussion. By 2020, Birch Bay had grown to approximately 10,000 people, making it larger than all but three cities in Whatcom County.

Geography

Birch Bay is on the Salish Sea in northwestern Whatcom County, about south of the Canada–United States border and from Vancouver, British Columbia. The community that surrounds the bay is connected by State Route 548, a short highway that runs between two interchanges on Interstate 5 near Ferndale and in Blaine. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (25.45%) is water. Birch Bay is a headland bay created by the refraction of incoming waves on the headlands that lie on either side of the bay. The headland to the north is Birch Point, and the one to the south is Point Whitehorn. The waves bend as they enter the bay and lose energy in the process. The result is a half-moon-shaped bay with a gentle sloping beach. The shoreline has been modified in past years by the implementation of perpendicular structures called groins, and riprap. Terrell Creek runs parallel along a section of the beach, eventually flowing into the bay.

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  20,322
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  18,465
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  16,463
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  15,367
• Glaucous-winged Gull

  Larus glaucescens J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  15,134
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  14,588
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  14,333
• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  13,644

Most recent

• M 2.56 — 2026-09-12
  2 km ENE of Mount Vernon, Washington
• M 3.8 — 2026-07-02
  2 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
• M 2.87 — 2026-06-08
  2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
• M 2.56 — 2026-05-29
  7 km ENE of Ferndale, Washington
• M 2.54 — 2026-05-07
  4 km WSW of Concrete, Washington
• M 2.7 — 2026-04-27
  5 km N of Anacortes, Washington