While we are headed out to sea towards the Perpetua Sea Bank, I ask Gillson about the special significance of the place were going.   "The Perpetua Bank breaks up the otherwise gradually descending seafloor, disrupting currents that flow on the shelf," he explains. "These underwater mountains sit right at the interface between the shallow shelf waters and deeper ocean abyss, about 30 miles offshore."

Gillson, who has been organizing these tours since 1994, explains that a strong undercurrent moves north along western North America, but when it comes to Oregon's sea banks, the undercurrent is pushed near the surface.  This brings a high concentration of fish, which attracts seabirds in high numbers.  Those numbers increase during migration, when seabirds move en masse across great distances.

Gillson explains the unique attraction of pelagic birding.  He says, "Seabirds are so interesting and unique that only a very few people would view them as just a checkmark on their list. How do these birds survive the stormy weather? How can they live for months, sometimes years, without ever returning to land? What do they eat? Where do they nest? Most are fascinated to learn that the birds they see on one trip nest in a variety of places...Parasitic Jaegers on Alaska's arctic tundra, Northern Fulmars on Aleutian sea cliffs, Tufted Puffins in burrows on Oregon's offshore islands, Black-footed Albatrosses on Midway Island and other coral atolls, Buller's Shearwaters in New Zealand and Australia, Pink-footed Shearwaters on islands off Chile, South Polar Skuas on Antarctica."