About Pelagic Birding

A free, community-maintained directory of pelagic birdwatching trips worldwide. We help birders find offshore birding opportunities across the globe.

What is Pelagic Birding?

Pelagic birding refers to boat trips taken offshore specifically to observe seabirds in their open-ocean habitat. Many seabird species, including albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters, and storm-petrels, spend nearly their entire lives at sea. They feed, rest, and migrate far from shore, making them virtually impossible to see from land. A pelagic trip is the only reliable way to encounter these remarkable birds.

A typical pelagic trip departs from a coastal port in the early morning and heads to deeper waters where seabirds concentrate, often over continental shelf edges, submarine canyons, or upwelling zones. Trips vary widely in duration: some are half-day excursions covering nearshore waters, while others run a full day reaching waters 30 to 60 miles offshore. Multi-day expeditions to remote islands or deep pelagic zones are also available for the most dedicated birders. Most trips use a technique called chumming, dispersing fish oil or scraps to attract birds close to the boat for observation.

Pelagic birding is a global activity, with trips available on every continent. From the rich Southern Ocean waters off New Zealand and South Africa to the productive currents off California and the North Atlantic, birders everywhere can access offshore trips. Each region offers a distinct set of target species, making pelagic birding a lifelong pursuit for those who catch the bug.

History

For many years, the American Birding Association (ABA) maintained the most comprehensive directory of pelagic birding trips. Their listing was the go-to resource for birders planning offshore excursions, covering trips across North America and beyond. However, around 2016, the ABA discontinued their pelagic trip directory, leaving a significant gap in the birding community.

After the ABA directory went offline, finding pelagic trips became a frustrating exercise in detective work. Information was scattered across dozens of individual operator websites, local bird club pages, birding forum posts, and social media groups. Birders visiting a new region often had no easy way to discover which trips were available, when they ran, or how to book them. Many excellent trips went underutilized simply because people did not know they existed.

This site was created to fill that gap. Pelagic Birding is a global, always-up-to-date directory that brings together pelagic trip listings from around the world into one searchable resource. Whether you are planning a trip close to home or researching birding opportunities on the other side of the planet, our goal is to make it easy to find and compare the pelagic trips available to you.

Submit a trip

Anyone can submit a trip for review. If you know of a pelagic trip that isn't listed here, whether you're an operator, a club organizer, or just a birder who's been on one, please add it. Submissions are reviewed before going live.

Report a correction

If a listing has outdated or incorrect information, the easiest way to fix it is to re-submit the trip with the correct details via the submission form.