Great Lakes Pelagic Birding:
A "How To" Guide

For a few years my father and I rocked the waters of Lake Ontario in a small inflatable zodiac, scoring some awesome bird sightings and encounters. This led to an occasional request for advice on how to run a "Great Lakes Pelagic" boat adventure, leading to this article. If you have any ideas, experience or questions on the issue please let us know via our discord server.

There  are two basic styles of zodiac-birding we've employed; feeding frenzy and stealth mode. Generally speaking, feeding frenzy involves throwing bread, creating a feeding group of gulls, and waiting for the goodies to find you. Stealth mode involves journeys out into the distant deep waters on a hope and a prayer that you encounter a restful individual. Each are detailed below:

Feeding Frenzy

What to do:   Start ON SHORE or NEAR SHORE. Throw bread. Attract gulls, preferably the naive local "parking lot" Ring-billed Gulls. Make sure they know you're packin' the good stuff (food) before starting to move offshore. If you have a very healthy supply, you can move out quickly - just don't stop throwing. I've been "full throttle" before, throwing tiny tiny pieces of bread, and convinced the gulls to keep pace with the boat and continue feed... It doesn't matter if you lose 80% of your gulls in the process, as soon as the others see gulls feeding around your boat - they will return and look for more handouts. The important part is the distant or reluctant gulls seeing OTHER GULLS eating in proximity to your boat.

Once you have your gull supply established, you're free to puddle around (or just float) and let the rarities find you. I highly recommend that you do NOT go very far offshore, unless you're on shallow water around Lake Erie... 99% of birds are within 1-2-3km from shore. If the rarities are around, they'll find you. The important part is keeping your "feeding frenzy" looking active and fun... I will never know how to describe or detail this; but there is a FINE LINE between a fat, overfed gull that has had enough and leaves - and a hungry gull that isn't getting enough food and leaves out of boredom.

Gulls want to feel like they can get rewarded for their efforts; mix up what you're throwing. Try tossing 10 tiny pieces, or a bunch of popcorn or whatever. The strong/bully gull can't eat them all at once, so even the smaller birds have a chance. Then throw out a large soggy piece of bread; it will fall apart and all the birds will freak out trying to get their bite of the chaos. Then throw out a very hard chunk of bread that the gulls can't swallow in 0.0001 seconds - they'll chase each other around for quite a while, keeping the activity up while not depleting your bread supply (great bang for your buck). The key is mixing it up and keeping the birds flying around/excited. Other birds see this at great distance, and will come to check you out.

If you see a Phalarope, it will probably get chased by your gulls. Try and get a good look, but don't get your hopes up for it to stick around...

If you see small terns, they probably won't hang around long no matter what you do; unless you did actually bring fish, then there's a 0.1% chance one will get a fish before the Ring-billed Gulls do...

If you see a rare small gull, such as Sabine's, Kittiwake, Little etc - try throwing out hundreds of tiny tiny pieces of bread close to the boat. Sometimes they're willing to come quite close and grab at the little bits (so they don't have to fight with their bigger cousins).

If you see a Jaeger, throw out a large handful (or more) of squishy bread. Make sure it is MORE than what you've been steadily throwing prior to the Jaeger's arrival. Unless it's the cutest of baby Long-tailed Jaegers, your friendly gulls are about to have the POOP scared out of them and may leave for good. Throwing out a large reward just prior to this may convince some of them to come back. I've had an entire feeding frenzy ruined by an over-zealous Parasitic Jaeger....

In this situation, Parasitic Jaegers could care less. I don't think Parasitic Jaegers care about anything really. They'll fly in, chase someone half a mile away, then who knows what is next. I find them very hard to photograph in the zodiac because they're always moving at 95kph and never seem to stay anywhere long. 

Long-tailed Jaegers might actually join into your feeding frenzy, and the gulls may come to terms with their presence (if your first "jaeger response toss" is effective)... Once everyone settles down, keep doing what you're doing and you may be in for a real treat. 

Pomarine Jaegers are less likely to join in than Long-tails, but don't get your hopes down. They may be looking for more action than the other species - I've had success throwing nearly solid chunks of bread out with Pom's present... They fight with the Herring Gulls over the pieces they can't swallow... Eventually they get bored when they aren't getting a meal, but it could increase your viewing time... 

Final Thoughts on Feeding Frenzies:

• Use bread... Unless you can supply your trip with fish parts (that FLOAT), leave the stinky stuff behind.

• You may not need to travel... Save gas and just float!

• If you are travelling, follow debris on the water or aim near feeding groups of birds. 

• There is nothing more exciting to a gull, than something another gull has just dropped. I've thrown out an apple core (among the bread) and watched 50 different gulls pick it up briefly before dropping it again.

• Onshore wind helps bring in the birds. 

• There may be significantly more birds in the afternoon/evening as "inland" Ring-billed Gulls return to the lake to roost. 

• No wind can be very challenging for feeding frenzies, as the birds don't have enough lift and will just swim. This reduces the activity around you and draws in less birds from elsewhere. 

• This method is the best way to view high numbers of birds.

• Don't shy away from existing feeding frenzies. I've parked 500m away from cormorants and poached the gulls...

• You'll have a hard time with "other" birds like ducks, shorebirds, etc. - unless it's a feeding frenzy species, the others will give you a wider berth.

• I once "stopped" feeding during a frenzy when I had attracted the attention of a tame Sabine's Gull. Eventually all the other birds left and I enjoyed the Sabines from 5-10 feet away for nearly two hours. 

With that said, you never know what will work out there! These are just suggestions... 

Stealth Mode

***Disclaimer***

...I've only tried this method on VERY CALM water. It may not work otherwise...

The alternative method to finding pelagics. Go WAY out onto the lake and cross your fingers that you find something in the abyss. That's it.

No speck on the horizon should be ignored. Half the time (on Lake Ontario) you can hardly see a bird, so any hint of a gull or loon is worth investigating. I've encountered some really exciting things this way including non-waterbirds, insects, large rafts of puddle ducks, raptors, swans, odd garbage, etc. It can be remarkably boring as well. Yet if you start finding gulls, your chances at Phalaropes, Jaegers, etc. will increase too.

What to do if: you encounter a Jaeger, rare gull, phalarope, well, anything really... Approach very slowly. Turn off the motor in advance and float in that birds direction. This may be a learned skill, or even a natural born skill that only some people possess.. But if you stay low, still and have the patience - you can be rewarded with close views and awesome photo opportunities. With that said, some birds will not be tame (esp. ducks, loons) but being as stealthy as possible will increase your chances of getting in closer. 

Final Thoughts on Stealth Mode:

- If you find a line of "junk" floating on the water. Leaves, pollen, bugs, garbage etc - FOLLOW IT. This happens quite often on Lake Ontario and you'll hopefully find small gulls and phalaropes taking advantage.

- Junk lines are easy to spot in light wind - they do not show ripples when everywhere else does

- If you're out in the abyss, it is much harder to get a feeding frenzy going. It's not impossible, but there is a high chance you'll waste your bait trying to convince the birds to eat.

- Remember that your odds of finding goodies are much lower than when chumming, but you could also find interesting species that are not interested in feeding frenzies.