Aloha All-
If you are looking for Kermit at Kaena, White Plains, Nanakuli, or anywhere else on Oahu, you aren't going to find him. Was so stoked to check the tag this morning and see he had gone walkabout. At about 10 am on April 12 Kermit launched from Kaena and headed straight...and I mean STRAIGHT...to Kauai. The coolest things about this is 1) the track is so so straight (we have good locations all along the track so we know he was really traveling in a line) and 2) you see examples of two dive types. At the beginning of his journey he is still moving along the bottom feeding and getting ready to cross, then once he starts moving you see what are called traveling dives. They are a little more rounded and much shallower. The last image shows him traveling over the abyssal depths of the channel...must be lonely out there in the big blue ocean. The trip took about 21 hrs. I love these tags and Google Earth. They reveal so much about these impressive seals.
Cheers,
Charles
THANK YOU Charles by sharing this information with monk seal blogville... you are giving us a whole new perspective of our cast of characters... AMAZING and Super Cool!
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6 comments:
How in the world do they know where to go??????????????
How long will Kermit wear his transmitter? It will be interesting to see how often he travels to other islands. Very cool!
Incredible! He knows he will have females to mate with soon on Kauai...smart guy! It would be very interesting to see if he followed any of the pregnant females from Oahu. Too bad we can put a transmitter on all of the seals!
Wow, that is an incredible travel map of Kermit. Before we left, we found him on shore in the front of a White Plains Cottage. I guess he was saying goodbye. He kept looking at me, taking his picture, little did I know, he was leaving. I wonder how many months he'll be gone, last time four long months. I will miss our fat boy Kermit. I wish him well, he gave us many special days observing his daily haul outs. Thanks for showing his travels, pretty impressive what a seal does in 21 hours. Take care Kermit, I love you!!! You tought us alot!!!
Hey All-
Not sure how long the tag will stay on Kermit. It looks like it is still pretty firmly attached so it will likely run out of battery before it falls of or is molted off. Or, we may capture him later in the year to gently remove it. The tag should transmit for another 4 months or so.
No idea how they are able to travel so directly. Magnetic lines? currents? previous experience? luck? smell? taste? yep, those are the best answers from the scientists right now.
If Kermit is looking for Irma, he's going to be disappointed too - since she has shown up at the Wind Sock beach here on Oahu
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