Pelagic Birding: Getting Started on Open Ocean Trips

There is an entire world of birds that most birders never see because those birds never come to shore. Albatrosses, shearwaters, storm-petrels, jaegers, and phalaropes spend their lives over the open ocean, coming to land only to breed on remote islands. The only way to see them is to get on a boat and go to them.

Pelagic birding trips do exactly that. They motor anywhere from 20 to 100 miles offshore into waters where pelagic species feed, rest, and migrate.

These trips are unlike any other birding experience, and they require a different set of skills, equipment, and physical preparation than land-based birding.

What Makes Pelagic Birding Different

On land, you walk to the birds. On a pelagic trip, the boat brings the birds to you, or more accurately, the boat moves through areas where birds are concentrated by oceanic features like upwellings, current edges, temperature breaks, and submarine canyons.

The birds are not gathered in a park or refuge. They are scattered across vast expanses of water, and finding them requires knowledge of oceanography as much as ornithology.

The viewing conditions are completely different from land birding. Everything is in motion. The boat pitches and rolls. The birds are flying over waves that constantly change the background. Light conditions shift as the boat changes heading.

Distance estimation is nearly impossible without reference points. And the birds themselves are often flying fast and low over the water, giving you only seconds to identify them before they disappear behind a swell.

This sounds challenging, and it is, but it is also thrilling in a way that no other birding experience matches. Seeing a Black-footed Albatross glide past your boat on stiff wings, or watching a Wilson Storm-Petrel dance across the wave tops with its feet, creates memories that last a lifetime.

Finding a Trip

Pelagic birding trips are organized by birding clubs, tour companies, and individual leaders who charter fishing boats and guide participants to productive offshore waters.

They run along both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico, typically on weekends during peak seasons.

The major pelagic trip organizers include groups on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Monterey Bay in California, and Cape Hatteras, where the Gulf Stream comes closest to shore and brings tropical species within reach.

Trips are usually announced months in advance and fill up quickly because boat capacity is limited. Sign up early for popular trips. Costs typically run between $150 and $250 per person depending on the duration and distance.

What to Bring

Binoculars are your primary tool.

A wider field of view matters more offshore than magnification power because you need to find and follow birds moving across a constantly shifting seascape. 8x42 binoculars are ideal. Higher magnification is harder to stabilize on a rocking boat.

A camera with a stabilized telephoto lens helps with identification of tricky species. Many pelagic birds are identified by subtle differences in underwing patterns, rump patches, and bill shapes that are easier to sort out in photographs than in real time.

A 100-400mm zoom is the most versatile lens for boat-based photography.

Dress in layers. It is almost always colder offshore than on land, even in summer. Wind chill on a moving boat can make a 70-degree day feel like 50. Bring a waterproof outer layer because spray and occasional waves coming over the rail will soak you. Rubber-soled shoes with good grip are essential on a wet, pitching deck.

Sunscreen and sunglasses are critical.

There is no shade on most charter boats, and the combination of direct sun plus reflection off the water will burn you fast.

Dealing with Seasickness

This is the biggest concern for most first-time pelagic birders, and it is a legitimate one. Seasickness can ruin what should be an amazing experience. The good news is that most people can manage it with preparation.

Start taking motion sickness medication the night before the trip, not the morning of.

Meclizine (brand name Bonine) is the preferred medication among pelagic birders because it causes less drowsiness than dimenhydrinate (Dramamine). Scopolamine patches, available by prescription, are the most effective option for people who are seriously prone to motion sickness.

On the boat, stay on deck in the fresh air. Do not go below into the cabin. Keep your eyes on the horizon when you are not looking at birds. Avoid reading or staring at your phone screen. Eat light, bland food and stay hydrated.

Position yourself midship where the motion is least pronounced. The bow pitches the most, and the stern has the most side-to-side roll. The middle of the boat on the upwind side is the most comfortable spot.

Identification Skills

Pelagic bird identification relies heavily on flight style, size relative to other species, and overall shape rather than the field marks you use on land.

A shearwater flying low over the water at 40 mph does not give you time to check its bill color or count primary feathers. You need to assess the gestalt: the overall impression created by the bird size, shape, flight pattern, and behavior.

Study before the trip. Learn which species are expected for your area and season. Focus on the common species first. Once you know what Cory Shearwater and Great Shearwater look like in flight, you can pick out the unusual species by recognizing what does not fit the expected pattern.

Flight style is diagnostic for many groups.

Albatrosses glide on stiff, bowed wings with almost no flapping. Shearwaters alternate flapping and gliding, arcing up over the wave crests. Storm-petrels flutter low over the surface with their feet dangling. Jaegers fly with powerful, direct wingbeats and harass other birds to steal food.

Chumming and What It Attracts

Most pelagic trips use chum, a slurry of fish oil, ground fish, and sometimes popcorn, to attract birds to the boat.

The slick spreads out behind the boat as it drifts, and seabirds that can smell it from miles away converge on the source. Storm-petrels, shearwaters, and fulmars are especially responsive to chum.

When the boat is drifting on a chum slick, birds come close. Very close. Species that you normally see as distant specks from shore may be sitting on the water within binocular range or flying past the stern at eye level.

These moments are the payoff for the long boat ride.

Your First Trip

For your first pelagic, choose a trip with experienced leaders who will call out birds and help with identification. Position yourself near the trip leader so you can see what they are pointing at and hear their commentary. Bring field guides that cover pelagic species and keep them accessible in a waterproof bag.

Keep your expectations realistic. You will probably miss some birds. Some species will fly by too quickly to identify. That is normal, even for experienced pelagic birders. Focus on absorbing the overall experience and getting comfortable with boat-based birding rather than trying to identify every bird on the first trip.

Once you do one pelagic trip, you will almost certainly want to do another. There is nothing else like it in birding.