Sunset Seabird Safari in Ocean City: My Delmarva Birding Experience

My family recently planned a trip to Ocean City, MD. I’ll be honest, I’m not much of a beach person, and neither is my wife (this was a trip set up by my dad and siblings). But I was excited for the chance to photograph shorebirds, and I did plenty of that. In fact, I spent most of the week out shooting every day. I’ll write another blog soon to cover all of that, but today I want to talk about something specific, an experience so good it’s skipping to the front of the blog line.

One evening my wife, daughter, and I booked tickets for a small-boat birding trip: the Delmarva Birding Weekends Sunset Seabird Safari, hosted by Jim Rapp. The boat leaves from West Ocean City and makes its way past the remnants of Skimmer Island, along the Ocean City jetty, and into the marsh/bay side of Assateague.

Maybe thats what brought you here, your looking to see if its worth it to go on this trip, well let me just start with, yes it totally is, but read on, look at the images, and decide for yourself.

I’m writing about it now because it may have been the single best birding experience I’ve ever had, and that’s coming right after a trip where I saw puffins in Maine.

I know you’re here for the photos, so let’s dive in. This post follows the tour more or less chronologically. But first, let’s skip ahead just a moment, here’s a tern flying across Ocean City, a shot that really sets the scene.

The tour kicks off by heading under the bridge toward the remnants of Skimmer Island. Honestly, that island was the main reason I booked this trip: black skimmers. What I didn’t realize though, and why I say “remnants,” is that Skimmer Island has been eroding for years and is now all but gone.

But don’t worry, dear readers. Just because the island has disappeared doesn’t mean the skimmers have.

And let me tell you, they delivered. Not only were they out feeding, but they flew right past our boat, close enough to give us the kind of views and photos you just can’t get from shore.

When I say close, I mean close. Close enough that I could zoom in and grab a tight portrait like this:

And because one isn’t enough, here’s the classic shot everyone hopes for, a skimmer slicing the water’s surface:

The action picked up again almost immediately. As soon as we moved on from the skimmers, a group of terns came flying in, diving all around us. They’re super fast little hunters, darting into the water right next to the boat, and it was pure chaos in the best way.

I’ll admit, when I stepped onto this boat I had basically no “perfect” tern photos. By the end, I had plenty that are as close as I’m going to get without someone handing me a National Geographic press badge.

By this point, it honestly felt like the excitement was never going to stop. Bird after bird, nonstop action out on the open water.

It slowed down after that though, in the best way possible, we started heading toward the jetty. The water had gotten a little rough, and let’s just say I didn’t escape dry, okay, I got soaked, acting as a shield at the front of the boat for my wife while I hid my camera between us. But it was worth it, because right as the sun was sinking lower, I got one last surprise before we even reached the jetty: a pelican, just hanging out, lit up by the most gorgeous backlight.

Now the Ocean City jetty brought a whole new mood. Bright green algae painted the rocks, and small shorebirds darted along them like they owned the place. This was one of those rare outings where I got to do it all in just two hours — action, portraits, artsy shots, even big environmental frames. Yet another reason this trip felt so special.

The real stars of the jetty were the ruddy turnstones. This was my first time ever seeing them and our captain got us in close, really close. Watching them work the rocks was thrilling and honestly they might be some of the most interesting shorebirds I’ve photographed, mainly because they look so freaking cool. I had the chance to capture them in all kinds of moments, all set against that striking backdrop of bright green algae.

After spending some time with the smaller shorebirds we made our way around to the back side of Assateague along the marsh. By then the sun was sinking low and I was met with my absolute favorite bird in the most spectacular light I have ever seen. It practically begged to be a panorama so that is exactly what I did.

This was the peaceful part of the ride, less about action and more about soaking in the light and the sheer diversity of birds. The black skimmers came back through in a big group, egrets and herons were scattered along the marsh, gulls and oystercatchers added to the mix, not all of them are my best work but I did want to highlight the biodiversity of the trip, and then a massive flock of white ibis swept right across the sunset. That moment became the banner image for this blog.

There was still one last surprise waiting for us at the end of the tour. All night we’d been thinking pink, hoping against hope, and that wish paid off. Off a tiny little sandbar off Assateague, way out in the water, spotted by my wife, stood a roseate spoonbill. I’ll admit the photo isn’t my sharpest of the night, but honestly, it didn’t matter. A spoonbill in Ocean City, Maryland just doesn’t happen very often, and being there to see it, well I needed to share it too.

From there the sun was mostly set and we went back to dock. How do I even sum up this experience? For one, it may have been the coolest photographic birding trip I have ever been on. For another, I think the pictures speak for themselves.

The images I shared here are far from the only species we saw. If you are curious, here is our full e-bird checklist with all thirty-seven species we encountered. But I am, ever and always, the photographer. I am here to share the images as much as the story, and not every bird gave me a great photograph to bring home.

I do want to take a second and say, and this is in no way sponsored, that I highly recommend any tour from Delmarva Birding Weekends. Jim Rapp is an awesome guide, very knowledgeable, knew exactly where to go, and was super kind and encouraging with my nine year old daughter who was birding alongside us. In fact my family is already planning another trip back in the winter when the grebes and ducks arrive.

One last shout out to the OC Bay Hopper and the captain who managed to get us into some incredibly shallow water without issue. That access is part of why these shots turned out so well. For sixty bucks you cannot ask for a better experience whether you are a birder, a photographer, or somewhere in between.

If you want to check out Jim’s tours for yourself, you can find them here: Delmarva Birding Weekends Sunset Seabird Safaris.

And if you’d like to see more of my work, my portfolio and full collection of images live here: www.shawnthomas.art

I took this last image from the Delmarva Birding Weekends Facebook group, this was our crew that night, a bonus look at the photographer y'all don't usually get.