December 20, 2024 Friday's Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Diane and Team R&B💕

Diane monitored Rabbit Island with Marilyn from 12:35 to 2:00 pm and there were five seals seen during that time.

Initially there were four seals when they arrived. Three of them were hauled out near each other to the left of the 2BS:

Adult Female: clean coat, no tags seen. Juvenile Female: clean coat and 2 red tags. The two females were side by side and they were in the company of an Adult Male, which Marilyn ID'd as R407 Kawika.

Another Adult Male hauled out near the 3BS and he appears to be the same A/M as yesterday.

At 1:15 pm another seal hauled out to the right of the 1BS: Unknown Juvenile: clean coat, two red tags, but it was hard to determine sex and size.

Team R&B first stop was at pokai. They spent over an hour gazing at the ocean. There were no seals, no dolphins, no turtles and with good reason.  Team R&B had noticed movement just off the Heiau and thought it was a seal, but it was a shark. In fact there were three of them going after something.  Team R&B got a couple of shots of the fins, but they moved fast and then were gone.

Team R&B headed over to tracks where they eventually found R604. It took them a little bit to find her in that she was way up in the grassy area, probably because of the big surf.

There were some folks that stopped to visit but all in all they were good. One surfer who wasn't paying attention had a scare when he came across her. 

Team R&B did a recheck on her later in the day and she was still there at the site. She had moved down a bit but was still resting peacefully.

They checked out Kahe where they spotted a seal foraging. They don't have much to go on, other than the seal was small and was foraging briefly by the outfall.

They also spotted a plover trying to get a meal.

Their only other sighting was Adam from NOAA posting some signs for the dolphins.

Rabbit Island

Shark

R604

Unknown Juvenile? Sub-adult?

plover

NOAA 

December 19, 2024 Thursday's Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Marilyn and Team R&B💕

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 12:35 to 2:05 pm and there were five seals seen during that time.

A short distance Makapuu of the 1BS was RK24 Bruno: adult size, newer coat, light mottled gray male belly, two red tags and a small scar on his right rear side.

About 50 feet Makapuu of RK24 was R407 Kawika: adult size, new coat, light to medium gray male belly, small scar on left midventral side, dorsal pit scar and nb on left rear side.

Where she was yesterday was Juvenile Female: juvenile size, newer coat, light gray female belly and two red tags.

Between 3BS and SRI was an Adult Female: robust adult size, female belly and two red tags.

Closer to SRI was an Adult Male: adult size, new darker coat, sandy dark gray male belly, unsure about tags.

Team R&B were at pokai looking over the water for seals. They were just about ready to give up when they got a glimpse of a seals hind flippers.  Spending more time studying the seal, they noted a green

snout and one red tag not readable. That was enough for them to know they were watching RH48 Lei Ola. She was doing 4 to 5 minute dives, but they couldn't tell if she caught anything.  It's been a little while since they have seen her.

They arrived at tracks and didn't see anything, but decided to stick around.  Then they saw movement, a seal was coming out of the

grassy area.  The seal had no tags, lots of scars, one on top of her head. They were able to ID R604 as she went into snooze mode.

The beach was closed at Kahe due to the rugged surf.  Team R&B did get to see the dolphins further out playing in the surf.

Rabbit Island

RH48

R604

Dolphins

December 18, 2024 Wednesday's Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Marilyn and Team R&B💕

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 11:55 am to 1:42 pm and there were five seals seen during that time.

After tussling in the nearshore waters off LPB the two seals hauled out.

Adult Female: adult size, light gray-tan female belly and two red tags.

A short while later RK24 Bruno hauled out behind the A/F and galumphed up next to her. RK24: adult size, light gray male belly, two red tags and a scar on his rear side.

They had a brief interaction and then both went into snooze mode and hardly moved after that.

Down from the 1BS was R407 Kawika: adult size, newly molted, light to medium gray male belly, no tags, nb on left rear side and dorsal pit scar.

At 12:26 pm, Marilyn became aware of a small seal near the 2BS, labeled as Juvenile Female 1. The J/F 1 was small juvenile size, light tan female belly and two red tags. She is in that thin, long growth phase. 

Between 3BS and SRI was Juvenile Female 2: larger juvenile size, tannish brown female belly, unsure about tags.

Team R&B searched all the usual spots today. They were so happy to find RH32 Kaale at Kahe. He was alone on the rocks enjoying his peace and quiet. No people or dogs around.  

Turns out Kaale was their only seal today.

But Team R&B weren't disappointed with the way the day turned out.  They saw a Iwa soaring through yoks side.

They were thrilled to see whales out there today.

And on their last stop they found four healthy honu.

Rabbit Island

RH32

Iwi

whales

Honu