Puffin Photography Ecotour - Small Grp

Service Description

Join us for an exclusive photography oriented small group expedition to Smith and Minor Islands, where just 4-6 participants will spend four hours on our Salish Sea School vessel exploring popular seabird and marine mammal hotspots for photographing Tufted Puffins of the Salish Sea. Our low to the water vessel and experienced captains allow for optimal wildlife photography and viewing. Boat around Smith and Minor Islands, where some of the last Tufted Puffins in the Salish Sea can be seen nesting, fishing, and soaring over the waves. Each tour offers a unique exploration of the Puffins’ lives at Smith Island — and with luck, some rare species sightings as well like our Horned Puffin! During April-June, participants have the possibility to observe Puffin breeding behavior, July-August tours have the opportunity to observe Puffins carrying forage fish to feed to their chicks, and September tours have the opportunity to see Puffins in all stages of their breeding to non-breeding plumage change before they head back out to the Pacific Ocean for our winter! Additional photo-op stops may include a scenic pass under Deception Pass Bridge, seabird and shorebird hotspots (such as Williamson Rocks, Bird Rocks, and Hein Bank), as well as marine mammal hotpots (such as Whale Rocks and Rosario Head). Contribute to Conservation! This isn’t just a tour — it’s a citizen science experience. This ecotour will give you a taste of the work that we do as an organization to conduct population counts, characterize Puffin behavior around decoys, add to Puffin diet research by photographing Puffin’s prey in their bills, and more! Tour participants are welcome to assist with conducting our bird survey during the tour, and any photographers have the opportunity to share their images of Puffins with fish in bill directly to our Tufted Puffin diet research database!