Birding Excursions
Birding Excursions are offered 3-4 time a year. The captain of the vessel is usually our birding enthusiast Joel. We try to have experienced birders onboard to help aid fledgling birders to identify sightings. Visit Joel’s site The Salty Bird for more insight into the birds found in our waters.
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Anacapa Island and the Santa Cruz Island Scrub Jay
Check Back In the Fall
for our Next Winter Trip
These trips are scheduled to depart from the Ventura Harbor. We will travel aboard the Catamaran Island Explorer for an 9-hour event. Typically, we skirt the edge of the Hueneme Canyon on our way to Anacapa Island. We often encounter a variety of seabirds including, Cassin’s Auklets, Scripps’ Murrelets, Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets, and Black-vented Shearwaters. We will motor along the coast of Anacapa Island and look at the groups of seabirds congregating for the nesting season. Later we arrive at Prisoner’s Harbor on Santa Cruz Island where we disembark for an hour or so to observe the Island Scrub-Jay and other terrestrial birds. On the crossing home, we will have a good stretch of water to cover with more pelagic birding opportunities. Boat departs the Ventura Harbor at 8:00am and returns to the dock at 5:00pm.T
Summer Birding Excursion
We go Where the Birds Take Us!
Check back in Spring for the Summer Excursion
This 12 hour, offshore, deep water, pelagic trip allows you to get out to the offshore waters beyond the reach of most day trips. You will have a chance to see a number of outstanding pelagic birds and marine mammals. Our intention is to go south from Ventura towards San Nicolas Island and the banks, knolls, canyons and other productive features in the area. This will give us a chance to look for sought after species like Red-billed Tropicbird, Least Storm -Petrel, Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Townsend Storm-Petrel, Guadalupe Murrelet and Craveri’s Murrelet. We will decide what our offshore destination will be after reviewing oceanographic conditions at the time of the trip, which will help determine where the birds and other marine life may be present of concentrated. Boat departs the Ventura Harbor at 7:00am and returns to the dock at 7:00pm.
Fall Migration Exploration
Pelagic Trip
Check Back in Late Summer for our Fall Trip
This 11 hour , offshore, deep water, pelagic trip allows you to get out to the offshore waters beyond the reach of most day trips. You will have a chance to see a number of outstanding pelagic birds and marine mammals. Our intention is to go south from Ventura towards San Nicolas Island and the banks, knolls, canyons and other productive features in the area. This will give us a chance to look for sought after species like Red-billed Tropicbird, Least Storm -Petrel, Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Townsend Storm-Petrel, Guadalupe Murrelet and Craveri’s Murrelet. We will decide what our offshore destination will be after reviewing oceanographic conditions at the time of the trip, which will help determine where the birds and other marine life may be present of concentrated. Boat departs the Ventura Harbor at 7:00am and returns to the dock at 6:00pm.
The Salty Bird
The Santa Barbara Channel, the surrounding waters, and the Channel Islands National Park, are a marvel of nature. I am lucky enough to work with this as my backdrop and have the opportunity to witness the day to day events taking place just off shore. I will share these experiences here, as well as share updates on sightings and my first hand knowledge of the area. This resource is a work in progress and will be continually updated and refined.
