“Birdist Rule #55:
Go on a Pelagic Birding Trip.
Hold your bile, conquer your sea legs, and head far offshore.
Trust me, the birds are worth it.”

I take the advice of “The Birdist” to heart. After my first pelagic birding trip out around the Channel Islands, I knew I was going to be boarding a boat and doing this adventure again. Why not give this oceanic birding a try close to home?

My local Audubon (Sea and Sage) hosts four pelagic birding trips each year, so I signed up for a trip and couldn’t wait to get out there again. This was on a winter trip in January, so pretty different than my first trip which was in July. It was definitely more chilly this time, staying in the 50’s and partly cloudy most of the day. True to California style, the sun kept us warm and the clouds stayed far enough apart that we had a really beautiful day on the water.

One of the greatest things about this being a local trip was that I got to meet many local birders, most of who I see on local birding reports quite frequently. I even met a lovely friend on the boat that I was already friends with on Instagram! The birders who join these trips tend to be pretty advanced in their bird ID skills, so it’s a great opportunity to listen and learn.

Our leader was Jon Dunn, and though I tried to stay chill about it, he’s a very knowledgable and skilled birder. In fact, he authors the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. And he willingly signed mine and included a wonderful note. He is one of the more genuine and kind bird leaders I’ve met, and I am so excited to join another one of these trips! We had several other leaders, too, and they were all very knowledgable and helpful with ID’ing the birds we saw.

Our trip started at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point. The journey went along nearshore Newport Beach, out to the Catalina Channel alongside some oil rigs, further out to Lausen Sea Mount, and back to Dana Point nearshore and into the harbor. The boat was well equipped for our trip, including some hot coffee and cold water to refill our bottles. There were two restrooms available. There was interior seating, so when the wind and sun just got to be too much, or in the slower bird moments, it was nice to have a place to sit and warm up and to enjoy lunch.

We had some pretty great sightings on our trip! My favorite bird that we saw was the Black-legged Kittiwake. Everyone on the trip got very excited about this bird, and once I saw it, I was excited too. It is a beautiful bird and followed our wake for nearly a mile. It was fun watching it interact with the gulls.

Out around the oil rigs, we spotted a few Pelagic Cormorants chilling on the rigs. These birds are beautifully colored, especially in the sun. In the right light, shades of purple, blue, and green show on the feathers! Rainbow bird!

The most exciting bird for our leaders (and eventually everyone on the boat) was a Buller’s Shearwater. I had to look this one up in my field guide and had a great chat with Jon Dunn to learn more about why this bird was special to our trip. This bird was one of the very few records for Orange County, and one of very few off our coast in winter. Rare birds are exciting, and this one was rare! It was easily seen with a bright white belly and underwings, and a distinctive “M” pattern on the top of the wings. This bird stayed in view for a fair amount of time.

My personal favorites were the Brown Pelicans that found us far out in the ocean, and played in the waves behind the boat. Brown Pelicans are easily my favorite bird, and getting to see them so close out on the deep, blue water was so cool! These Pelicans go from brown and bland colors in their “off-season”, to a crazy colorful bright colored bird in the breeding season. They are so cool – how they eat, stretch, yawn, fly, and change colors!

Here are a few more photos of some of the birds and non-birds that we saw:

The January 2020 Sea and Sage Pelagic trip was really great. The boat left just after sunrise and returned just before sunset, and the day was full of fun birds, gorgeous ocean views, and meeting some great people. I’m already looking forward to when I can join another Sea and Sage Pelagic trip!