Monday, October 28, 2019
October 26 pelagic -- weathered out
Well, it happens sometimes. You set up a pelagic months in advance, and then the weather just does not cooperate. Sometimes the decision to cancel is straightforward -- the ocean and or weather conditions are bad enough that even the charter says "nope". Sometimes the Coast Guard makes the decision for you, closing the bar. And sometimes we have to make our best decision for our passengers. Conditions for Saturday were for winds up to 16 kts, which is very doable in our boats. The forecast also called for swells of 9 ft, with wind waves of 5 ft. The boat movement would have been extreme, making a trip not only dangerous for all participants, but also making watching birds very difficult, if not impossible. In the face of those conditions, we decided we had no reasonable choice but to cancel.
Friday, October 18, 2019
What have we been seeing this fall?
This post is way overdue. Oregon Pelagic Tours has been running a series of exciting pelagic trips this fall, and I am going to share some of our notable sightings.
Birdwise, the highlight of the fall has to be the very cooperative HAWAIIAN PETREL that come into our chum slick on our 12 hour deepwater trip on August 24. This is the third sighting on an Oregon Pelagic Tours deepwater pelagic (2 in the fall, one in the spring).
Other notable bird sightings:
Laysan Albatross 8/18, 10/6
Buller's Shearwater: 8/18, 8/24, 9/14, 9/22, 10/6, 10/12
Flesh-footed Shearwater 9/14
Short-tailed Shearwater 10/6
South Polar Skua 8/24, 9/22, 10/6
Red-breasted Nuthatch 10/6 (first for OPT -- landed on a passenger and a guide)
Mammals:
Baird's beaked whale 5 on 8/24/19
Blue whale 1 on 10/6/19
Fin whales up to 15 on 10/12/19
Risso's dolphin 6 on 10/12/19
Northern elephant seal 2 on 10/12/19
Great sightings so far in 2019!
Birdwise, the highlight of the fall has to be the very cooperative HAWAIIAN PETREL that come into our chum slick on our 12 hour deepwater trip on August 24. This is the third sighting on an Oregon Pelagic Tours deepwater pelagic (2 in the fall, one in the spring).
Other notable bird sightings:
Laysan Albatross 8/18, 10/6
Buller's Shearwater: 8/18, 8/24, 9/14, 9/22, 10/6, 10/12
Flesh-footed Shearwater 9/14
Short-tailed Shearwater 10/6
South Polar Skua 8/24, 9/22, 10/6
Red-breasted Nuthatch 10/6 (first for OPT -- landed on a passenger and a guide)
Mammals:
Baird's beaked whale 5 on 8/24/19
Blue whale 1 on 10/6/19
Fin whales up to 15 on 10/12/19
Risso's dolphin 6 on 10/12/19
Northern elephant seal 2 on 10/12/19
Great sightings so far in 2019!
Thursday, August 15, 2019
OPT Trips Filling Fast!
I am very pleased to announce that the first three OPT Newport trips are either full or nearly full. This refers to our pelagics on 8-hour on August 18, our 12-hour on August 24, and our 8-hour on September 14.
Oregon Pelagic Tours is pleased to offer two pelagics going out of other ports than Newport.
We are hoping for more birders on our Shorebird Festival Pelagic (September 22, out of Charleston). This 5-hour trip is excellent not only for birders with little or no pelagic experience, but still delivers most of the species we see on our longer trips.
We are also looking for birders wanting to add to their Tillamook County list, or just wanting to go out of a different location. The Garibaldi 8-hour trip was initiated last year as part of the Oregon Birding Association annual meeting. We had some great birds, and are happy to offer this trip again. However, we definitely need more sign-ups to make this trip a go.
There is still lots of space (including early registration price slots) available on our October 6 10-hour, our October 26 8-hour, and our December 12 7-hour pelagics. The latter trip has had three albatross species two years in a row, can we make it a three-peat?
Oregon Pelagic Tours is pleased to offer two pelagics going out of other ports than Newport.
We are hoping for more birders on our Shorebird Festival Pelagic (September 22, out of Charleston). This 5-hour trip is excellent not only for birders with little or no pelagic experience, but still delivers most of the species we see on our longer trips.
We are also looking for birders wanting to add to their Tillamook County list, or just wanting to go out of a different location. The Garibaldi 8-hour trip was initiated last year as part of the Oregon Birding Association annual meeting. We had some great birds, and are happy to offer this trip again. However, we definitely need more sign-ups to make this trip a go.
There is still lots of space (including early registration price slots) available on our October 6 10-hour, our October 26 8-hour, and our December 12 7-hour pelagics. The latter trip has had three albatross species two years in a row, can we make it a three-peat?
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