For more than 30 years VENT has operated tours to all regions of the United States. This year is special in that we will operate our first-ever tour based solely in the great state of North Carolina.

Debuting May 29-June 5, 2010 our weeklong North Carolina tour will focus on specialty landbirds and waterbirds of the southeastern United States, with special emphasis on the pelagic birds that inhabit the Gulf Stream off the Outer Banks.

In the Wilmington area, we'll search hardwood swamps and pine forests for such southeastern specialties as Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Swainson's and Prothonotary warblers, Painted Bunting, andBachman's Sparrow.

Among the salt marshes and beautiful barrier beaches of the famed Outer Banks we should see a wide variety of herons and shorebirds, as well as coastal specialties such as Clapper Rail, Piping Plover, Sandwich and Gull-billed terns, and Seaside Sparrow.

The centerpiece of this tour will be two pelagic trips into the rich Gulf Stream. The ocean off North Carolina is renowned for the best seabirding on the Atlantic Coast; both the numbers and variety are unmatched at any other East Coast site, plus the opportunity to see some very rare species is better here than anywhere else.

Our daylong trips offshore should produce up to 10 species of seabirds, including Black-capped Petrel; Greater, Cory's, and Manx shearwaters; Band-rumped and Wilson's storm-petrels; South Polar Skua; jaegers; and a variety of gulls and terns. Late spring is a premier time to bird the Gulf Stream and, in addition to the birds mentioned, this is a time of year when rarer species are encountered. While it is not possible to predict what surprises a trip to sea may hold, late May/early June is the timeframe for White-tailed and Red-billed tropicbirds, Masked Booby, and Fea's and Herald (Trindade) petrels. Even the mythical Cahow (Bermuda Petrel) is a possibility.

In addition to birds, other oceanic creatures such as dolphins, whales, sea turtles, and sharks are likely.

Michael O'Brien, co-author of the acclaimed Shorebird Guide, is a lifelong resident of the mid-Atlantic and one of the continent's top field observers. He contributed the images that appear in this gallery after visiting North Carolina in 2009.