Tofino Pelagic Bird Watching Tour

The Whale Centre Tofino runs dedicated pelagic birding trips aboard the Big White, a 30-foot Boston Whaler, departing from Tofino into the productive offshore waters of Clayoquot Sound and beyond. Led by experienced naturalist guide John Forde, the standard 6-hour departure ventures 25 km offshore to Clayoquot Canyon — one of the most reliable sites on the BC coast for pelagic seabirds — while the 8-hour departure pushes further offshore for more advanced birders. En route, the boat typically stops at Cleland Island Ecological Reserve, where Tufted Puffins breed colonially from May through August alongside Cassin's Auklets, Rhinoceros Auklets, Black Oystercatchers, and Pelagic Cormorants. Offshore targets include Black-footed Albatross (occasionally Short-tailed Albatross), Pink-footed, Sooty, Buller's, and Flesh-footed Shearwaters, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Red-necked Phalarope, Sabine's Gull, Long-tailed and Parasitic Jaegers, and Cassin's and Ancient Murrelets. The Big White carries up to twelve passengers and operates in challenging open-ocean conditions; these trips are suited to birders comfortable with offshore sea states. Tofino's position on the outer coast of Vancouver Island, directly exposed to the open North Pacific, places the Clayoquot Canyon within easy reach — a deep submarine feature that reliably concentrates foraging seabirds, marine mammals, and the occasional vagrant from Asian or southern-hemisphere waters.