Introducing Oregon Pelagic Tours

A year ago my wife Marlene and I followed our dreams and moved to the San Diego area. After completing the 2014 pelagic season it no longer made sense to try to run the Oregon pelagic bird guiding service long-distance.

After much discussion with long-time guide, Tim Shelmerdine, I decided to dissolve the Oregon corporation. After 21 years The Bird Guide, Inc. will cease to function on December 31, 2014.

In its place, a new business, run by Tim Shelmerdine, will officially start with its first pelagic trip on February 7, 2015. The new name is Oregon Pelagic Tours.

The new website is Oregon Pelagic Tours (www.oregonpelagictours.com)

What does this mean for pelagic birders in Oregon? This is a transfer of business from one name to another. Tim and I worked closely together on The Bird Guide, Inc.'s pelagic trips for almost 20 years. I was President of the corporation and made final decisions. Tim is Owner of the new business and is now responsible for final decisions of Oregon Pelagic Tours. Nevertheless, we still continue to work together. Tim is starting with the same trip routes, same charter and boats, same pool of expert seabird guides. I have set up the web site and will continue maintaining it. Pelagic participants should notice very little change. There will be the same emphasis on providing a quality bird watching experience coupled with great seabirds.

What does this mean for The Bird Guide, Inc.'s website? The Bird Guide web site (thebirdguide.com) came online in 1998 and was not just about pelagic trips. It is paid for by the corporation for the next 3 years, and will continue as a resource to those seeking information on birds and bird watching in the Pacific Northwest. I do not see adding significant content, however. There are annotated checklists to Linn and Washington counties, Oregon, that I would like to transfer to a more permanent site. The pelagic pages will change to point visitors to the Oregon Pelagic Tours site. After 3 years the website will cease to exist, and my email address of 16 years (19 by then) linked to that domain will no longer be valid.

What does this mean for the Oregon Seabirds blog? The blog you are reading was set up to accompany The Bird Guide, Inc.'s pelagic website, as that site did not have an included blog. Since the Oregon Pelagic Tours website does include a blog, the Oregon Seabirds blog is no longer necessary. So this will be the final post.