TABLE 1): THE FIRST DEDICATED TEXAS “PELAGICS” FROM 1961 – 1993
On Feb. 26 1961, Ed Kutac organized the first known purely pelagic birding trip in Texas with the Ornithology Group of the Houston Outdoor Nature Club into the Gulf of Mexico. 26 observers got at least 30 miles out. At that time there was only one previous record of Pomarine Jaeger from the western gulf ( Bolivar Peninsula 1933) and only 3 previous records of Gannet from Texas waters. (fide Brush Freeman)

Following this there were a variety of Texas Birding Clubs and Audubon Societies that continued to organize occasional Pelagics on an ad hoc basis. The table below summarizes these trips. I have received this information from a number of people that attended them and have first hand knowledge of the details. I believe I have all or most all of the trips that were run during this time frame.  

An excellent summary of these early trips was written by Dwight Peake and Mark Elwonger in 1994, Pelagic Birding Did Explore in ‘Ninety-Four’, after they had completed the first year of their 6 year run at organizing the first series of regular Texas pelagics. These early trips laid the groundwork for all future Texas Pelagics and established the patterns of seabird distributions we may take for granted today. I think it’s a very interesting read.