Winter Trips 2027

This year we will continue to run with two weather dates for each trip – one before and one after! Trips in ( ) are the weather dates. Please be sure to give us your best contact number so we can get in touch with you if we run on the earlier date!

January (29) 30 (31)

February (5) 6 (7) / (9) 10 (11) / (12) 13 (14) / (16) 17 (18) / (19) 20 (21) / (23) 24 (25) / (26) 27 (28)

March (5) 6 (7)

PRICE: $250 per person per trip

MEETING TIME: 06:00 behind the boat at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center

DURATION: 8 to 10 hours

16 Spaces per Trip; Heated Cabin

Weather is often a factor on winter trips. In some cases, strong winds force us to remain ashore for a day and or limit the distance we can travel on a trip. With this in mind, our winter trips always have a weather date to give participants a good chance to get offshore and in 2027 we are continuing to have TWO weather dates – one before and one after the trip date. We also have added some trips during the week again this winter – Wednesday with a Tuesday / Thursday weather date – to give people more options!

Our primary departure point for the winter trips will be Oregon Inlet Fishing Center in Nags Head, NC (8770 Oregon Inlet Rd. Nags Head, NC 27959). When the wind is blowing hard from the southwest, the ocean waters on the leeward side of Hatteras Island are easier to reach from Oregon Inlet. The resultant upwelling off the north beach during these conditions is also attractive to a variety of seabirds. Over the past few years, winter birding has been better on the north side of Cape Hatteras which is easier to reach from Oregon Inlet. So while in the past we have had a weather port for these trips, we now will just run from Oregon Inlet!

Over the years our North Carolina trips have been very productive for seeing a variety of alcids, Great Skua, and other seabirds not frequently seen on our spring and summer trips such as : Northern Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Red Phalarope, and Black-legged Kittiwake. In the winter of 2012 we saw record numbers of Dovekie from Hatteras with over 800 counted in one day! In 2022 and 2023 we found Common and Thick-billed Murres on many of our winter trips! While our trips off the Virginia Capes were more consistent in finding Dovekie and Atlantic Puffin, the waters near Cape Hatteras seem better than those off the Virginia Capes for Great Skua and large numbers of Razorbill. Although Virginia Beach is a more convenient departure point for many of you, the breadth of the continental shelf makes these trips much longer in duration than our trips from Oregon Inlet. Good winter birding is much closer to shore here, in some cases, 40 or 50 miles closer than off the coast of Virginia. Plus over the past few seasons we have proven that there can be hundreds of Atlantic Puffins or Dovekies right here east of Hatteras Island! Now we just need to record some albatrosses from Oregon Inlet! Join us to try 😉

We keep eBird lists and share them with participants! We request that you DO NOT make your own lists to keep these records offshore consistent and useful! Please be patient since we take time to make sure these lists are correct and we share them with our leaders before we share them with you to ensure nothing has been missed. However, sometimes things can be really busy, so if there is a change to a list after we have shared it with you, we will send you an email to correct it. If you have any questions or issues with an eBird list or are not certain about the ID of a bird in a photo please email Kate at cahow1101@gmail.com and she can help you with that.

Spring and Summer Trips 2027

This year we will be running two out of three day sets for seabirders who are keen. Then we will offer single day trips once we get into mid-June. The sets require taking two trips, these will all have one weather date. No single day trips are offered until 11 June. So those interested in just joining one trip or who might not want to chance two days in a row – those single day trips will be for you!

2/3 DAY SETS: April 30, May 1 (2) / May 14, 15 (16) / May 17, 18 (19) / May 20, 21 (22) / May 23, 24 (25) / May 26, 27 (28) / May 29, 30 (31) / June 1, 2 (3) / June 4, 5 (6)

SINGLE DAY TRIPS: June 11, 12, 13, 19, 26

July 10, 17, 30, 31

August 1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29

PRICE: 2/3 day sets $485 single trip $250

MEETING TIMES: 05:00 April 30 to June 26 behind the boat at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center

05:15 July 10 to August 15 behind the boat at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center

05:30 August 20 to 29 behind the boat at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center

DURATION: 10 to 11 hours

16 Spaces per Trip / Set

As in the past, we are open for charters if you would like to organize your own group of participants for a day offshore! In 2027 they start at $xxxx for the first ten participants then $xxx/person up to 18 maximum.

Most of the pelagic trips we run during the warmer months visit the Gulf Stream – a highly dynamic, warm water current that passes very close to Cape Hatteras. The Gulf Stream moves generally in a northeasterly direction. Near Cape Hatteras, the Gulf Stream meets the southbound Labrador Current. The latter is a cold water current, which has considerably less velocity than the Gulf Stream, but nevertheless plays and important part in creating the dynamic marine ecosystem along the west wall of the Gulf Stream. The west wall of the Gulf Stream is usually 20 to 25 miles from Hatteras Inlet.

While many species of pelagic seabirds feed primarily along the west wall of the Gulf Stream, some, such as the Black-capped Petrel (a regional specialty) are found primarily a few miles seaward of the Gulf Stream edge. Others, such as tropicbirds, may be found in the relatively unproductive Gulf Stream interior.

On some days the west wall of the Gulf Stream is easy to spot, as cobalt blue water meets shelf water that is green “as a gourd”. At other times, particularly if the stream is a bit farther offshore, the change might be subtle and there can be a large area of “blended water” between the shelf water and the axis of the stream. The axis is where the “hard current” is located. The current generally flows on a northeasterly heading at about 2 to 4 knots.

There are a number of seabirds typically associated with Gulf Stream water in the western North Atlantic. These are Black-capped Petrel, Audubon’s Shearwater, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, White-tailed Tropicbird, Red-billed Tropicbird, Masked Booby, and Bridled & Sooty Terns. Many of the rarities we see, Bermuda Petrel, Fea’s Petrel, & Trindade Petrel, are seldom found away from this feature, but that might be more of a coincidence than a real association, because we see a number of cold-temperature species in the Gulf Stream with great frequency, for example Great Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, & Wilson’s Storm-Petrel.

In any event, for most of the spring and summer, the Gulf Stream east of Hatteras Island is probably the most consistent (and convenient) place in the western North Atlantic for finding a variety of pelagic seabirds on any given day. Getting there usually only takes between 2 to 2.5 hours of traveling each direction, so most of our day is spent in or along the Gulf Stream.

Fall Trips 2027

We have one set and some single dates with obligatory weather dates for September

2/3 DAY SET: September 4, 5 (6)

SINGLE DAY TRIPS with (WEATHER DATES): September 11 (12) / 18 (19) / 25 (26)

PRICE: 2/3 day set $485 single day trip with (weather date) $250

MEETING TIME: 05:45 for the September set; 06:00 behind the boat at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center for single trips

DURATION: 8 to 10 hours

16 spaces per set / trip

Information about these trips is the same as the information above for the Spring and Summer trips!

2027 Schedule

Winter Trips 2027

Spring and Summer Trips 2027

Fall Trips 2027