03/01/2020 Sunday Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, Marilyn with a little input by me. 
I need to make a correction: I have been referring to the female juveniles from Rabbit Island as though they were born last year. Well truth be told they were born in 2018. So they will be TWO this year, time flies.!

Also in the yesterday news department Anissa K sent photos taken by posse pal Beth Ford of R3CX on MCBH.

Team Billand arrived at the outfall at 7 am and stayed for a couple of hours. They spotted Kaale RH32 up to his bad behavior stealing fish again. Thankfully today's fishermen were all very patient.
At one point he came very close to where they were standing and Kaale was diving into the rocks, tail up slapping the water. A few of the guys thought he might be going after a TACO. 
Team Billand left the outfall just before 9 am and Kaale was still there.

Team Billand stopped by White Plains around 11 am and found Buster RV08 with a nice zone set up by the lifeguards.  Team Billand called the hotline.
The lifeguards helped Team Billand keep people away from the seal. The lifeguards asked them what the best distance to keep, between the seals and people. They were very appreciative for Team Billand always showing up and educating the people.

Team Billand returned to the west side and stopped to check one of the sites where they found Kekoa RK72.  He was a lone today laying on his back basking in the sun. They stayed with him for an hour hoping there would be others, but Kekoa was on his own today.
Weather conditions were windy a little chilly and the waters were choppy.

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from Kaupo Beach park this morning for about half hour.  When she first viewed the island Mom and PO1 were joined by another adult/sub-adult seal very close. The UU rolled over and was directly looking at Mom & PO1, and Mom reacted challenging the UU and then moved away. 
Today Marilyn was able to observe and get a decent photo of Mom's ventral side, she appears to have a darker patch in her upper left side. She remains a mystery mom with another hint!  We also think PO1 may have a fairly large natural bleach inside its LFF. 

There was another UUU up in the morning glory by the 1BS. This appeared to be an adult but the vantage point did not allow for any other clues.

I met up with Marilyn this afternoon and we viewed the island from the pier.  Mom and PO1 were the only critters on island. The kid is getting brave and wandered away from Mom a few times but would always turn around and head back. A couple of times I could see its mouth open so it must have been vocalizing. 
At one point we couldn't see for sure but it appeared Mom had a hold on the kid, and we could see its hind side lift up and flap its rear flippers several times. It was pretty comical as if Mom was making the kid stay put, but it wanted to wiggle away.   It was fun watching this little one today.

R3CX @MCBH on Friday

Kaale RH32

 thief !!

gorgeous rainbow

Buster RV08

 Kekoa Alii RK72

Rabbit Island  Mom, PO1 and visitor UU

 Mom reacting

 All is calm with Mom and pup

UU resting in the morning glories 

 Afternoon session

 PO1

02/29/2020 Saturday Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, Lesley and Marilyn.  Lesley's Ka'ena update is part two of the dailies.

Team Billand  was at the outfall at 6:30 am. Upon arrival one of the fishermen pointed out a seal in the outfall. Team Billand was able to get a couple of pictures as it passed. Initially they thought it was Ka'ale but once they checked the photos they saw it was his bosom buddy RN14 Kalani.

At 7 am they arrived at a near by beach and spotted a seal hauling up on the rocks and the waves were crashing over. They were able to ID RG28 Lefty and he was alone. They left to pick up junior sealette Olivia.

Team Billand returned to the outfall just before 9 am for a second visit. They spotted a seal foraging and taking fish from the fishermen. They spotted his tag and this time it was in fact Ka'ale RH32. The guys on the pier were cracking up as Ka'ale would torpedo to the line and the fisherman reeled it in fast and Ka'ale missed the fish. Ka'ale didn't give up as he went to the next and was able to steal himself some fish from other lines. He even went up on the rocks to get the fish. 

Thankfully the men at the outfall are aware of his antics and all are very good about it. At least the ones there today.

At a west side location they found two seals together to the right inlet. They ID'd Kawena RH36 and Kekoa Alii RK72 snoozing together. 
On a later check they were both in the same spot still sleeping.

In the afternoon Team Billand went back to check on RG28 Lefty who was joined by RN14 Kalani on the rocks. Both males look very healthy and were very cooperative by making their tags visible.

This evening after the sun had set Team Billand got a call from family friends. They had a seal on the beach and were concerned. So Team Billand headed over as quickly and they were able to ID RW02 PvKauai. It was getting dark fast so they didn't stay and headed for home. On their way home their friend called them back to say the seal left. 

Marilyn checked a couple of spots on the eastside, she had got word from posse pal Gayle there was a seal in the area. Marilyn found a large adult critter with a clean coat. There was a line scar on left side and possible scarring around the left eye. Seal was reported as a U/U.

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 11:45 to 1:50 to find a total of four critters.  The unidentified female (Mom) and PO1 were on the sand near Seal Rock Inlet. The pup was most active when it was overcast which made getting decent photos difficult. Most of her photos of the kid when the sun was out and it was sleeping. We still don't know who the Mom is, as she doesn't have any markers or they haven't been visible. By the way the kid is one week old !

The Kailua side of 1BS there were two unknown male seals. Both appear to be adult size, male bellies and tags. There was a brief interaction between them but for the most part they were in snooze mode.

 Rn14 Kalani 

 RG28 Lefty

Kaale RH32

Kawena & Kekoa

Lefty RG28 and Kalani RN14

RW02 PvKauai

U/U

Two U/Ms 

 Mom and PO1