Epic Pelagic Birding Adventure: Rare Seabirds Spotted!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Special thanks to Westport Seabirds for taking us out! You can learn more about their trips here: westportseabirds.com. We also had some Short-tailed Shearwaters but were going through the photos while we made this video so we left them out of it just to be safe. Also the Long-tailed and Parasitic Jaeger photos are from Alan Schmierer, not taken during our trip (Public Domain). Mine were very distant, so we wanted to include some that better showed the species!

[@Stukin_The_Pines]

I've done three autumn pelagics out of Cape May, NJ, leaving well before dawn & returning in the late evening. I'm lucky that I do not get seasick; instead, I enjoy the rocking motion of the boat, even though this can interfere with good sightings. We saw some excellent seabirds, along with other sealife (whales, dolphins, & a sunfish). But for me, a highlight of one trip was unexpected. Far out at sea, seven species of passerines (warblers & a vireo) landed on the boat & remained perched for a while, perhaps using the vessel as a resting place during their migration journey. One even hopped around the deck for a while; we had to be careful where we put our feet!

[@stevep7476]

I couldn't agree more. I've done pelagics out of California, Sydney Australia, and Santiago Chile. Some of my best days birding, I highly recommend.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Definitely a neat and unique experience. I get a feeling like no two Pelagius are the same in terms of what you find

[@kurtniznik8116]

It was a long time before I ever did my first pelagic. I wouldn't say it's my favorite type of birding now but I do believe in getting out on the open ocean for a pelagic at least once per year. There's something special about spending the day out of sight of land, experiencing a completely different ecosystem and seeing all the life that's there.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

The ecosystem was something that really stuck out to us. That and how any structure out there provided habitat

[@NathanWebb-c5h]

That was fun to watch all those pelagic seabirds. I hope I can do that someday.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Highly recommend! Thanks so much for watching!

[@garymeredith2441]

You guys had a great trip there ( and Great Photos there Derik ) , I can see this is something I just simply cannot do ( I get so seasick ) I'm glad you guys had lot's of great Birds and looks like you did .

[@BadgerlandBirding]

There are definitely people out there that simply can’t do ocean birding for that reason. From what I hear it’s a miserable experience :(

[@forestvoidmars]

I also saw a South polar skua on my first pelagic this October! It was off in San Diego waters where they have apparently been absent the last few years but a different boat saw one earlier in the year as well. Captain wasn't sure if it was a skua or a weird looking juvenile gull so we lucked out haha

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Very cool!

[@thecornells7430]

Superb video, guys. Pelagics are awesome. If you're ever in the UK, you should do the ones from The Isles of Scilly in the UK out into the Atlantic. Great video as ever, thanks.🙌🙌👍

[@BadgerlandBirding]

I have a strong feeling there are a lot of things we need to do in the UK lol

[@ShepStevVidEOs]

I’ve never done a true pelagic, but I’ve gone whale watching in southern California and in Puget Sound, Washington where I kept my eye out for birds as well. Got some lifers on both trips. No albatross yet.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Kinda still counts! Lol

[@kenallison9119]

My favorite all-time was off the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in late August a few years back. Five species of Albatross, both giant petrel species, Southern Fulmar, Cape Gannet, various cormorants, Cape and White-chinned Petrels, etc. Like in your trip, our best concentration was near fishing boats, in this case large trawlers. They processed their fish on the boat and then discarded all the offal. The birds would come in from miles around as soon as the heard the chains rattling as a trawl came up.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

It’s an entire ecosystem out by those boats

[@olenskafanboy]

Not a big seabirding guy but this seemed fun! Congrats on the trip.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Why are you not a big seabirding guy?

[@olenskafanboy]

@BadgerlandBirding it's not that I don't like them, I tend to prefer forest and woods birds and birding. But your trip looked like fun and the birds looked cool, so maybe I should give these ocean birds more of a chance.

[@mister-bland]

This was super cool to see, thanks for sharing the experience.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thank YOU for watching!

[@captain1697]

I get sea sick so easily haha but I would die to do this. Congrats on all your lifers!!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Ahhh that’s too bad! I hope you can live vicariously through the video :)

[@nslbirding]

Great stuff guys I’m from 🇬🇧 uk and love coming to Usa and doing pelagic trips. Missed the Albatross in Monterey this year😢, coming back in May fingers crossed

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Greetings from across the pond! Good luck on the Albatrosses!

[@JohanvandenAkker1]

The best bird at sea... absolutely puffins (saw them around Iceland last summer).

[@BadgerlandBirding]

A fine choice!

[@markshen3280]

Good morning to both of you from Hong Kong 🇭🇰 SAR. You two have never been on a boat ⛴️ before ? 😳Must be extremely exciting for both of you to see so many sea birds.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

We’ve been on many boats but this was the first time on the ocean!

[@ESan-yq1tm]

Great video. Thank you.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Glad you liked it!

[@chipperatl]

Great video. Now you guys need to try to the pelagic out of Hatteras. Did 3 days last year, and it was epic.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

We definitely have it on our to-do list

[@jtwanderer6328]

So Amazing!! I enjoy all your videos, but this one was beyond, just beyond! Thank you, guys! Maybe you said it and I missed it.... but what month did you go out?

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@jtwanderer6328 end of July! So glad you enjoyed it!

[@jtwanderer6328]

@@BadgerlandBirding Thanks! Making plans for 2025!

[@Shrock568]

This is one of my new favorite Badgerland birding videos! I absolutely love the ocean and I really want to do a pelagic. I have so badly wanted to see a shark in one of your videos. Not only did this one have a shark, but it also had whales, sunfish and some amazing ocean birds! Do you guys know what kind of shark it was?

[@BadgerlandBirding]

They told us it was a Blue Shark!

[@Shrock568]

Nice! They are one of the main pelagic sharks on the west coast. Their numbers have been decreasing do to overfishing so it's nice to see one swimming free.

[@ABirdersParadise]

Looks fun! I haven't been on a pelagic trip, but I did get to see a humpback whale breaching, Cape Gannets, and a Southern Giant-Petrel all from shore while in Africa earlier this year.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That sounds incredible!

[@030345601]

That's a great video! I'd love to see some Vancouver Island content if you make it that far north. There are some incredible spots from the south to the north tip

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Thanks! Haven’t made it up there yet but it sounds cool!

[@badexperience3178]

Another great video guys, really enjoyed it. I am in the UK, I went on my first proper pelagic trips this year too, in August, out of the Scilly Isles in the SW of England. Went on 3 trips over a long weekend, it was incredible, we had a South Polar Skua too, amazing to think they get into the North Pacific as well as the North Atlantic. In the UK we have to separate from Great Skua which I don't think you get over there. Also had Long-tailed and Arctic Skua [Parasitic Jaeger if you insist] and Sooty Shearwater and Sabine's Gull that you guys saw, and our petrels were Wilson's and European Storm Petrel, incredible little birds surviving out in the ocean. Thanks again for the video, brilliant

[@BadgerlandBirding]

It is crazy that those animals end up in different corners of the world

[@JAGzilla-ur3lh]

Interesting. It had never occurred to me that dedicated open ocean birding trips were even a thing. Logically, of course they are, but I'd never thought about it, haha. Well, that looks very fun and is definitely added to the bucket list. I'd love to see an albatross out in its element. There's something very dramatic about ocean wandering birds like that. A former land animal that doesn't approach land for months at a time. It's a rugged, harsh lifestyle, living alone, totally self-reliant in an environment you really aren't optimized for, not the way a fish or a squid or even a whale are. They're impressive animals.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Totally agree! It’s crazy to think that they’re flying or floating out there for such long stretches at a time

[@boyiyu7039]

westport pelagic trip is great! honestly it feels like every birder from PNW has been on their trip lol

[@BadgerlandBirding]

It does seem that way lol

[@timjozwiak2293]

So cool on how you show us so many different types of birdwatching there is!! So cool!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

We really do try to! Thanks so much for watching!

[@jakeharfield8516]

Great video. Pelagics are a real favourite of mine and I try to do as many as possible. I'd love to do some outside of Australia! If you guys are ever in Western Aus hit me up! Would love to get you guys some lifers.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That would be great man! We’ll definitely keep it in mind! Wanna send us your contact info so we have it? [e-mail]

[@sylviamaulding2237]

I’ve been on about 15 Pelagic’s. OR, CA , FL, ME.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Which one was the best?

[@sylviamaulding2237]

@ they were all different. The San Diego one was the last and I got 2 Lifers.

[@sylviamaulding2237]

Monterey Bay was special, lots of different storm-petrels.

[@ilenehales7849]

I haven't done one, but its on my list of things to do

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Would definitely recommend it!

[@maxkeetch920]

Went on a legendary pelagic at the end of August with Alvaro’s Adventures out of Bodega Bay, Ca. SIX Hawaiian Petrels!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That’s wild! Congratulations!

[@737Parkie]

You can see pelagic birds on Caribbean islands. Lots of frigate birds which are one of my favorites! Howdy from the Wichita Mountains ⛰️ 👋

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That sounds awesome! Also, love the Wichita Mountains!

[@737Parkie]

@ Just had a huge wildfire in the refuge unfortunately. Burned over 12,000 acres in about a week. Supposed to get rain tomorrow after a very long drought. Come back next spring!

[@ickgtib]

I have gone on a pelagic once in July of last year in Eilat, Israel. compared to the region the numbers were pretty standard but far fewer birds than where you have been. I had four lifers including swinhoe's storm petrels, parasitic jaegers, a brown booby and a lesser crested tern. I have arrived to Eilat the day before in the afternoon so I had time to do some briding from the coast which got me two lifers: white cheeked terns and bridled terns.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That’s pretty cool! Sounds like you may need to add a few more pelagics in the near future!

[@ickgtib]

@BadgerlandBirding I tried this year too but it have too late for the subscription

[@Beryllahawk]

Hilariously though I've lived in Mississippi for decades now (and a good bit of that on the Coast no less!) - I've never been out to sea at all. Not even on a river boat! I still think of myself as a desert creature, I guess. Also my family was never much interested in boating of any sort, we were lucky if Mother took us all to the Pascagoula beach (which is tiny and underwhelming, sorry to say). That looks VERY exciting though!! I admit I would not have gotten a single bit of media, I would've been all eyes and ears but probably clinging to the rail for dear life. I have no clue if I'd get seasick... I don't think so, if it's "just" up and down. My experiences with dizziness have all been spinning related... or reading in a car, ha! I think I'd be HUGELY excited to go do a boat tour like that up near New York or even Maine. I've learned a bit more about that area, there are ospreys (and you know me: raptor obsessed!) - but a LOT of other really interesting creatures, even if a large percentage of the ones I know about are bottom dwellers and not birds :P Something to plan for if I ever win the lottery, right? I giggled a little about the skuas being bad news. One of the (few?) things that movie Happy Feet got right, eh? Glad y'all had such a fantastic voyage!!

[@1coolkitty]

Great video! Thanks for taking us along. Just curious, what kind of camera or video equipment worked the best for you?

[@johannroos1824]

Great Video how many species did you guys see on the ocean that day ??

[@jackieblatz5260]

Nice video something different I plan on going out there next year did you use new micro 4/3 om1 ?went of San Diego three times and Maine this spring that’s one you’ll love many new lifers there if you go to Maine go to Seal Island you can ashore for about an hour for nesting Puffins Razorbills etc.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Yes! The OM-1 Mark II. We'll actually be releasing a video on Friday about how it worked on the trip!

[@jillpalmer1686]

Seward, Alaska!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Would love to go for a visit!

[@jackieblatz5260]

Great

[@michaelsimko7694]

So I see you have done offshore birding in the Pacific Northwest. I've seen actual footage of South Polar Skuas killing baby penguins in Antarctica. Skuas and Jaegers are said to be "Falcons of the sea". Albatrosses are a sight to see in the open ocean, as they have huge wings and do more gliding and soaring than Gulls.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@michaelsimko7694 that’s dark about the Skuas 😬

[@live2walk]

Ha, I've done this very trip... but it was super foggy. Still saw some good birds, but not as good as it could be.

[@roberthopson2654]

Didn’t realise sach’s was a Trojan horse. Interesting.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Huh? 🤔