Thursday, July 25, 2019

Always Learning...

If you do pelagics, or even are checking out this website, you probably are a fan of seabirds. As I have been ever since I did a fishing trip to the Farallones back in high school. Shearwaters and puffins made an impression even before I knew I was a birder. In addition to providing pelagics for Oregon Pelagic Tours (and The Bird Guide before that), I seek every opportunity to seek out seabirds in other states and parts of the world. 
Which brings me to my current trip. As I write this, I am on a cruise ship off of Kamchatka, Russia, with a final destination of Japan. We passed through our best location for Whiskered Auklet near Dutch Harbor in the pre-dawn hours, so one life bird went a-beggin', but hopefully more await as we near Japan. And having a Mottled Petrel as the first bird of the day is a thrill, no matter how you slice it, and seeing two Red-legged Kittiwakes (the first I have seen in 21 years!) on a floating piece of wood goes a long way as well.  I saw no new birds this trip in the ABA area, but seabirds are awesome wherever you find them, and I have no complaints.
Speaking of finding seabirds, we are still working out details for our Hawaii to Vancouver trip next spring. This trip is beginning to generate interest, and more details will be forthcoming, both on this website, and in other communications. 

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Shorebird Festival Pelagic -- yes!

The Shorebird Festival is going to take place after all, and Oregon Pelagic Tours is pleased to provide a 5-hour pelagic trip. This trip will be from 7am-12pm on Sunday, September 22, and run out of Betty Kay Charters in Charleston. We have a smaller boat, and have to deal with a price increase,so the 2019 price will be $100. This is always a very popular trip, and we see many of the species seen on our longer Newport trips. There are only have 18 spaces available to us, so birders wishing to take this short but great pelagic will want to register soon.