Internet Problems

Dear Bloggers!!

I am having connectivity issues from my house..... so the blog updates will be limited until I can get my internet back.  I will do what I can to update when I can. SORRY.... 

Don't give up on me though.... I will be back! 
da blog lady
donna

1/30/2010 DB Dailies

The day began as an absolutely miserable, rainy day, with some improvement in the afternoon. On my first look at Rabbit Island, at 0711, I found what would later prove to be Right Spot, to the right of 1BS, and Buster up in the Morning Glory to the right of 3BS.

At 0719 Sadie hauled out at 1BS and moved up behind the Morning Glory where she remained all day.

As I exited my car to unlock the pier gate at 0733 for my departure, I chanced to look to my left and to my total shock and awe, there was a small seal in the shallows not 25 ft away. I managed to get a horrible shot at it moved away from me which only proves that it was either the Loch Ness Monster, or the head of a small Monk Seal moving away from me. On my 2nd glimpse of the animal I got a good look at the right side and also saw 2 red tags, Keep in mind this is all happening in pouring rain. Of course the office is never going to except anything but an U/U indentification, but since it was a Mikala or Duke sized animal, and since I did not see any right side bleaches, Duke is ruled out. My dollar is on Mikala. To add to my arguement, I lost the animal at 0754, and at 0928 Mikala hauled out at Rabbit Island.

My much better half was doing the Spitting Cave check while all that was going on and found nobody, but lots of whale counters, who at that time had only seen 1 whale.

At 0845 RIP hauled out 80 ft left of 1BS and he too remained there the rest of the day.

As previously stated Mikala hauled out at 0928 and moved up to join Buster in the Morning Glory right of 3BS. In the afternoon both would move down, and showed off there new bleaches.

At 1414 Duke hauled out the the right end of the Middle Cliff area, 100 ft or so left of 3BS. He would remain there the rest of the day.

Team Billand were wearing their Whale Count hats today, so I didn't hear from them until 1455 when they reported RI37 at Electric Beach (Kahe Power Plant), then reported Benny at Kermit's Reef, on the west side of the Nimitz Beach jetty at 1528.

Buster and Mikala

Duke

Weaner swimming at Makai Pier

1/30/2010 Barb & Rob Billand Report

The Billands had to do the Hawaiian Island Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Count this morning from 6:30 (setup) to 12:30. We couldnt find seals at this time, Sorry.  We counted 22 whales...19 adults and three calves. We had 19 volunteers at our site...all great people and fun to work with. The volunteers had noticed how many homeless people are now at this site, just across from site.

We began our hunt at 2:00pm.

2:45pm Found I37/I38, snoozing alone, on the rocks as usual. She was comotose today.

3:28pm Found Benny RE74, snoozing also, but a little alert as there were two dogs that were playing ruff with Owner...unleashed. He was on Kermits Reef.

1/29/2010 DB Dailies

My first pass through the SE quadrant was a bust, but just as I got back to Makai Pier for the day, posse person Susan called from Spitting Cave at 0926 to say that she was looking at a small animal with a white spot on the right side just behind the fore flipper, and a dark patch on it's between it's shoulders. As I suspected, when I arrived at 0945 I found Kolohe doing 8 minute dives .

When I got back to Makai Pier at 1058 I found Mikala just hauling out at the far left end of the beach. She would remain there all day.

From my first look at RI this morning at 0717 I thought there might be a likely looking shadow tucked into the base of the cliff at the left end of the beach, but it was not until 1131 that the shadow raised it's head and looked out over the Morning Glory. Finally , at 1243 the animal began moving down and for the first time I got a look at Sadie's new N20 bleach, though the photos don't pick it up at all. She moved down to join Makala near the water line and during the brief low level interaction I also got a glimpse of Mikala's upside down ,left side N20 bleach.

Team Billand had their usual busy day, reporting Irma at Maili at 0920, then Ewa Girl and Benny at Palm Grove, Campbell Industrial Park at 1005, and lastly, Kermit at White Plains at 1243.

1/29/2010

Ewa Girl & Benny

Irma

Kermit

Kerby @ Ka'ena Point

Aloha Good People... These great photos were taken by Colin Cross who was out at Ka'ena Point on Tuesday. Colin sent me an email and with his permission I am sharing them with you. Funny no matter how many pictures I look at I still am amazed by these animals. ENJOY! ~donna~

1/28/2010 DB Dailies

It was yet another gray and dismal day at Makai Pier. Rabbit Island observations were okay, but the photo conditions left much to be desired as you will see. The cast would include Duke at the right end of the beach, Kolohe between the greeneries right of 1BS, Mikala at the far left end , and Sadie tucked into the base of the cliff, left of 1BS. As is always the case on cool, overcast days, the animals have zero incentive to move.... so they don't, which makes getting ID's a difficult thing. It literally took all day, but I finally got everybody figured out.

On my 0750 , Spitting Cave check I found both RIP and Buster. It took a while to figure out that there were, in fact, two animals, I thought I got lots of RIP shots, but as it turns out they were all junk. I didn't even know that I'd gotten a shot of Buster's newly acquired N21 bleach until I was just now editing photos.

Team Billand had yet another busy day, with Benny at Tracks, RI37 just down the beach a bit at Electric Beach, and Kermit at White Plains.

Jenn Maldonado sent mail late today, with shots of RA50, at Shark's Cove yesterday (1-27-10). Regular readers will recall that this little Nihoa guy was first seen at Shark's Cove on 12-13-09, and hadn't been heard from since, until this sighting. Thank you Jenn !!!

Duke

Kolohe

Benny

RI37

1/28/2010 RA50 @ Sharks Cove

This little guy is pretty tiny... amazing to think he swam all the way from Nihoa.

1/28/2010 Kermit @ White Plains

1/27/2010 DB Dailies

Cold, Windy, Rainy & Miserable pretty much describes the Makai Pier world today. Nevertheless, there was a Rabbit Island cast visible out there, between "white outs' " . I found Duke at the right end of the beach at 0717 and when I got back at 0920 found RIP and Sadie , belly to belly, at 1BS where they would remain all day. Kolohe was never more than partially visible up against the cliff, 30 ft left of 1BS.

Simply because Right Spot has been doing afternoon haul outs of late, I did a Sandy Beach recon at 1324 . I was not surprised at all to find her on the beach near the small lifeguard stand at the east end of the beach. According to witnesses she had arrived 15 minutes before I arrived. I never got any kind of call, and simply lucked out. I'll be returning to her shortly.

Team Billand had their usual busy day. They called at 0815 to report Benny at White Plains. Their posse person , Mochiko said he'd been there at 0715. I got a call later from Barbara advising that Benny had abruptly departed at 0948 to join two unknown seals off shore. After some play all disappeared.

They called again at 0900 to report Kermit at Nimitz Beach fronting #1813.

At 1145 they reported Rocky at Palm Grove, Campbell Industrial Park. Though we have seen Rocky along that stretch of beach before , she has never hauled out to Palm Grove. Ewa Girl musta' told her about the spot !

At 1514 Barbara called again to report RI37 at Electric Beach (Kahe Power Plant).

I picked up the rope at 1900. Right Spot was still there.

Right Spot

Kermit

R137

Rocky

1/26/2010 DB Dailies

On my first look at Rabbit Island at 0729 I found RIP snoozin' up behind the log , 40 ft left of 1BS, and Sadie fronting 1BS. Both would move down to cool but remain at RI all day.

At 0737 I found Buster up in the grass at the right end of the beach. He would later move down to cool off and gave me my first look at his newly acquired N21 bleach. It was clearly visible but none of my shots today adequately captured the new bleaches.

When I got back to Makai Pier at 0930 I found Kolohe on the beach, 80 ft right of 3BS. He was moving down so I presume that he'd been up in the tall grass all morning, and I'd just missed him.

At 1119, Mikala hauled out along side Buster at the right end of the beach. There was no interaction. Her N20 bleach was also clearly visible.

I did a Sandy Beach check around 1230 or so and spent time on the beach with posse persons Allison and Lesley. At 1255 I had relocated to Blow Hole to get an better overview of Sandy Beach and within 10 seconds of my arrival there I found Right Spot just hauling out to the east end of the beach. I scurried back to Sandys and cordoned her off. She has remained there all afternoon. I'll be returning shortly.

Team Billand's first call came at 0716. They were responding to a "dead seal" call in Makaha. As is usually the case it would turn out to be a perfectly happy,healthy Irma snoozin' on he beach. Not that long ago the routine call such as this were just just written off as the general public's unfamiliarity with Monk Seal sleeping habits. Today, you just can't assume that anymore.  At 0954 they reported Kermit at White Plains, near the east end fence.

The next call came at 1038 reported Rocky at Kermit' Reef on the west side of the Nimitz Jetty. Another call at 1456 advised that Benny had just hauled out to join Rocky.

I picked up the rope at Sandy Beach at 1900. Right Spot was still there.

1/26/2010

Rocky

Rocky & Benny

Irma

Kermit

1/25/2010 DB Dailes

On my first look at Rabbit Island, at 0739 I found what would prove to be Sadie, tucked into the base of the cliff at the left end of the beach. When I got back at 1000 she had moved down into full view. Her new N20 bleach was clearly visible.

My first Spitting Cave check had been a bust, but posse member Susan, called at 0900 to report N18 swimming to the right of the big rock. Sure enough, when I arrived at 0916 I found Duke doing 8 minute dives.

I got back to Makai Pier at 1000, and at 1130 Mikala hauled out 40 ft left of 1BS. Her N20 bleach was clearly visible.

At 1236 RIP hauled out to join Mikala. There was a bit of light weight interaction, but shortly thereafter, at 1250 , RIP moved over to join Sadie. Once again the interaction was low key.

At 1302 , posse member Shawn, called to report an animal just hauling out to the east end of Sandy Beach. When I arrived I found Right Spot (of course), at her usual spot . I'll be returning to her shortly.

Team Billand called at 1010 to report Kermit and Benny together near the east end fence at White Plains. One of their posse said that Kermit had arrived first aound 0800, and Benny had arrived later. At 1215 Barbara called again to report a very fat and happy Rocky at Kermit's Reef on the west side of the Nimitz jetty.

To my shock and awe DOCARE Officer John Silberstein called at 1516, just to check on how things were at Rabbit Island today, and mentioned that he had just left Kualoa Point, where R5AY and volunteer, Jessica were hangin' out along side the road.

Mark Sullivan (of Mark & Sean bleaching fame) sent a couple of shots from their RI bleaching mission the other day. They are shots of Kolohe and Mojo. Enjoy !

Right Spot was still at Sandy Beach when I picked up the rope at 1915.

RIP & Mikala

Rabbit Island Kolohe & Mojo