Someone on the deck shouts out "Albatross, ten o-clock!"  And twenty binoculars move across the bow of the charter boat.  A magnificent bird - wingspan seven feet - curves into the wind above a distant wave.  The tip of his wing glides an inch above the water.  I have heard that seeing an albatross for the first time has an intense effect on people, putting them out of breath or inspiring them in profound ways.  Today I just saw my first Black-footed Albatross, and instantly I understand the special place sailors and poets have for these birds.

Oregon's birders head to the state's deserts, mountains, marshes, coastal estuaries, canyons and forests in pursuit of sightings of the state's birds.  If you open a field guide to birds, however, you may notice that dozens of Oregon's birds live miles offshore. Many of these species rarely come within view of the coast at all.  

Species which may have been seen off the coast of California or Washington have yet to be seen off the coast of Oregon.  It's not that they don't exist out there, but that they have yet to be seen.  Deep ocean Oregon is simply the most inaccessible place in the state to look for birds.   

Some say the last great frontier for Oregon birding is far out at sea, in these deep water, or 'pelagic' zones.  Greg Gillson's pelagic birding tours, which leave from Newport Harbor between 6-8 times a year, are the main event in Oregon pelagic birding.  It is also one of the primary means to break new pelagic birding records.  In 1997, for example, one of Gillson's trips recorded the second North American sighting of a shy albatross.  In 1998, a Brown Booby, rarely seen straying from Mexico north to Southern California, was spotted.  In August 2008, his group spotted a Greater Shearwater and a Wandering Albatross.  Both were first sightings for Oregon.