When it comes to getting the most out of a pelagic trip, two words come to mind : preparation and participation. Time and time again, we find that those birders who have done their “homework” before heading out, and those who take an active role in scanning and calling out birds that they spot, are the folks that see the often tough birds on these trips: the high, distant tropicbirds, the fast moving rare gadfly petrels, and the rapidly disappearing skuas.
Lets talk about preparation first. While it is true that relatively little is known about pelagic birds compared to many other species, quite a bit has been written about their identification and habits. Peter Harrison’s guide to seabirds was all that we had for many years, but most of the modern North American field guides do a pretty good job covering the pelagic birds nowadays. For the enthusiast, I highly recommend Steve Howell’s Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America. You can get it from Buteo Books and other sources. It is well written and Steve captured many of the images right here on trips with us off Cape Hatteras. There are also a variety of other books you can get to read more about gulls, jaegers, terns, and other groups of seabirds. A nice one is Oceanic Birds of the World by Howell & Zufelt published in 2019.
Next, pour over the our trip reports and images at seabirding.blospot.com This will give you an idea how the birding here varies from day to day and from year to year. Also the images show better in electronic format than they would in print because there is inherently more dynamic range looking at a lit image.
Now that you have studied all of the illustrations and read other relevant ID material online or in journals, don’t open your books when you’re birding at sea. Instead concentrate on looking at the birds. Take notes. Pay careful attention to size, shape, structure, flight style, color, plumage, and behavior, and use these features to help you make an identification. Burn an impression into your mind and maybe take some photos if there is enough time, and then consult the books and the trip leaders. Just don’t get so wrapped up in it that you forget to call out the bird! That brings us to our next topic: participation.
In order for us to have a good pelagic trip, we need active participants. Even three to six leaders cannot always spot all of the birds, even if they’re constantly looking in different directions. Participants ask questions, and that takes our attention from the sea. But that’s good, as we like to answer questions. But, if no one else is paying attention to the ocean, a Bermuda Petrel could fly down the side of the boat and be missed, particularly on a day that is windy and rough. When customers are looking, we see more birds and more people see the birds.
As for questions, again don’t be bashful. Lots of people never ask us about the rare gadfly petrels until after we have actually seen one, and then they aren’t sure what they saw because they didn’t know what to look for beforehand. Some of this knowledge isn’t in the books, but we have it. Ask us for it. People also often spend a lot of time puzzling over Wilson’s Storm-Petrels (and in doing so, miss other birds), because they are unaware how different a Leach’s or Band-rumped will look when we finally run across one. If you are puzzled by these birds, as we all were at one time or another, ask us what to look for, and we will do our best to explain it to you. On the other hand, it pays to study each species carefully to get a feel for it, so that you know something different when you see it.
Finally, as I usually say before each trip, you are not going to see every bird that is called out today, and neither am I, but if you look hard, and you know what to look for, you might find something special.
Additionally, we bring additional reference material that is relevant each trip, including an extensive personal collection of photographs taken at sea on previous trips, many of which are available for viewing here at our site.