Hudson Canyon Pelagic Bird & Marine Wildlife Trip

American Princess Cruises operates dedicated pelagic birding trips from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York City, aboard the 95-foot American Princess — one of the most historically significant pelagic birding vessels on the US East Coast. The trips venture into some of the most productive offshore waters in the North Atlantic, targeting the Hudson Canyon, a vast submarine canyon that carves 450 miles from the continental shelf edge back toward New York Harbour and concentrates warm Gulf Stream eddies against the cold Labrador shelf water along its rim.

Three trip formats are offered throughout the year. The flagship 24-hour overnight trips depart in late spring, summer, and autumn and steam approximately 100 miles offshore to reach the Continental Shelf edge and Hudson Canyon waters — genuine oceanic habitat where Black-capped Petrel, multiple shearwater species, and deep-water storm-petrels are regular. The 12-hour day trips run primarily in winter (a January date is a long-standing fixture) and push 30–60 miles offshore into the pelagic zone, producing Northern Fulmar, alcids including Razorbill, Dovekie, Atlantic Puffin, and Common Murre, and kittiwakes alongside large numbers of Northern Gannets. The 6-hour special trips offer a more accessible introduction to New York pelagic birding, running spring and autumn into the inshore pelagic zone and Lower New York Bight.

Chumming is an established part of the programme: the vessel chums to attract a flock of gulls, which in turn draws in rarer species such as Northern Fulmar and Razorbill. This dedicated chumming technique is confirmed across multiple trip formats and trip reports. The programme has been running continuously for many years and was documented by Jay McGowan of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in a June 2024 eBird trip report (tripreport/248879), confirming the offshore protocol and species encountered on the 24-hour Hudson Canyon trips. An earlier trip report from September 2023 (tripreport/156158) further documents the programme. Active dates for 2026 are listed on the operator's website, and a January 2026 12-hour trip and April 2026 6-hour trips are confirmed.

Target species on the 24-hour Hudson Canyon trips include Black-capped Petrel (regular in summer and autumn), Cory's Shearwater, Great Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Manx Shearwater, Audubon's Shearwater, Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Leach's Storm-Petrel, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Long-tailed Jaeger, South Polar Skua, Bridled Tern, Red-necked Phalarope, and Red Phalarope, alongside Northern Gannet, Black-legged Kittiwake, and a suite of deep-water cetaceans including Sperm Whale, Cuvier's Beaked Whale, and Common Dolphin. Winter 12-hour trips shift focus to alcids: Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, Dovekie, and Common Murre are expected, along with Northern Fulmar in significant numbers. The eBird hotspot L670979 (Hudson Canyon, Atlantic Ocean — Suffolk County, New York) documents the confirmed species list from offshore trips in these waters.