4/28/2010 DB Dailies

My first look at Rabbit Island from Makai Pier was a bust, and even when I got back to the pier at 0856, it was still a bust. On one of tons of pans of the beach, at 0938 I spied the tiniest little silver of white belly peeking out from behind the water front rocks at the right end of the middle cliff are, just left of 3BS. From then on it was a waiting game. Slooooowly but surely as the tide began to rise , the critter had to move out from behind the rocks, and at 1104 I saw that natural bleach , white spot just behind Kolohe's right fore flipper ! He would move up and into full view and remained there as the one and only Rabbit Island resident for today. 

The Billands were skunked again today, and I recieved no other reports.

My little, bald heart is stomped on, crushed and broken with the departure of Monk and Team Bloy today. They return to the beaches of Nebraska. The insights provided by the Bloy/Pike Expeditions on Molokai have been so enormously valuable to me personally, and to the Monk Seal program in general, that I can't even begin to describe the importance of the Bloys. I don't know how either Diane or myself will survive their departure at the moment, but survive we will, and the Pike Expeditions will hopefully, continue to provide the vital Molokai data that has become so obviously abundant. To say that the posse and I will miss you two is the grossest possible understatement. Thank You.........very much !!

There are a couple of late breaking stories. Tracy called at 1538 to advise that there was an animal at Shark's Cove , initially identified as R038, with a wound across the dorsal posterior. That set off warning bells in my mind, and a subsequent check by Todd White and the photo on his blog , http://northshoremonks.blogspot.com/ would seem to confirm that it is , in fact, RI37. Todd is having technical difficulties at this writing , so more photos will follow, but the tag shot would indicate that it is RI37.

Tracy also passed on news that Lona was seen at Hickam AFB yesterday. It's entirely likely that she is heading for the SE quadrant. I'll be keeping the ol' eyes peeled tomorrow.

Rob, Ron, Diane, Val, Tracy, Barb, and da blog lady