MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: April 2011

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Marine Mammal Center - Report from Tony Q.

Volunteers Tony Querubin and Jim Brown are at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito... Here are the last few days of comments from Tony....

DAY 4

There were a lot more Canadian Geese foraging at the school playground that we pass by every morning. We lost a baby elephant seal this morning. He started convulsing under water. He was my favorite baby :(

More of the same stuff today as before. Jim got a small scratch by one of the more lively baby elephant seals. He ended up going to the hospital as a precaution and got a dose of antibiotics.
One of today's youth volunteers turned 18 today and they had a small birthday event during lunch. I didn't realize until today that some of the younger volunteers were high school students.
Several of the baby elephants seals that had been hand feeding started eating on their own today. One of the volunteers worked very patiently with them and got them retrieving fish in the water and ingesting them on their own. Hooray!
Saw a wild turkey and some mallards on the way home this afternoon. AFLAC!

DAY 3

Today we had a large group of volunteers from PG&E so the regular volunteers (including us) got a break from handling herring and cleaning some of the pens.
Almost lost my eyeglasses in one of the pools and a baby seal splashed water in my face while I was scrubbing a pen. Those pups sure like to play with those cleaning brushes.
Got a quick tour of the Harbor Seal facility. In the afternoon we drove down to Pt Lobos State Reserve and released an adult sea lion and two of the older juvenile elephant seals.
On the way back to Mill Valley we stopped to view the wildlife at a pier at Moss Landing. We saw a whole bunch of sea lions and a few elephant seals on the wharf. There was a large colony of sea otters in the water and seagulls on the beach. Diving in the water were some cormorants. In the marsh across the highway, there were a bunch of different waterbirds - some were tiny white birds which I couldn't identify. Also saw some some ducks and geese along the way.

Day 2 was similar to yesterday.

- more herring handling
- boarding and restraining for blood draws (they don't like those needles!) and tube feeding
- there was a power outage right after we cleaned the pens which caused the pumps to fail and the water levels to drop. Some seals were having trouble getting out of the water so we had to get them out of the pools until the pumps started working again.
- attended the feeding of two adult partially blind sea lions
- took one of the elephant seals to an ultrasound check
- tomorrow they'll be releasing a female adult sea lion and several elephant seals

DAY 1

- made baby seal formula from freshly ground herring
- steered seals to move/swim in a certain direction using crowding boards so they can be separated for feeding/medication
- restrained seals during tube feeding
- measured out fish rations for the afternoon feeding
- transferred seals between pens via wheelbarrow
Sooo cooool.
We decided to leave a little early so that we could find the house more easily while there was daylight. It's hard to see it as it's behind the fence surrounding the front deck. Found a good chinese restaurant for dinner - Wang Can Wok :) Weather is great! It was a little nippy this morning leaving the HoJo but the sun was out and the scenary on the way over was great. Jim was also an excellent tour and historical guide for the area.

4-29-11 DB Dailies

I was in full bore Irma/KC Quest mode as I walked out the door this morning. Despite looking in every nook

and cranny from Rabbit Island to Portlock, I was batting zero until 0859.

Alan Hong, of Hanauma Bay fame, called at 0851 to advise that he was at the roadside pull off just HB side of the Japanese Memorial at Bamboo Ridge, and that he was looking down at a Monk Seal in the water below him. When I arrived at 0859 I immediately recognized KC (RK28) but her big, beautiful CC scars on her shoulders. I saw only a single up at the location, so after a 20 minute wait I relocated to the Blowhole Lookoout at 0925. Just as though I had the vaguest clue, sure enough at 0935 I spied KC, at 0935, approximately 50 yrds off shore, mid way between Bamboo Ridge and the entrance to Eternity

Beach. I observed multiple 6 minute dives with 1 minute ups. She seemed to be ever so slowing moving east as she foraged. I remained until 1030, but did a recheck at 1200, as well as checking all the coastline between Makai Pier and Blowhole, but did not see KC again. Irma was a no show also.

From Makai Pier at 1037 I found Buster snoozin' on the water front rocks, 60 ft left of Seal Rock Inlet on Rabbit Island. He would be the only RI resident today.

Team Billand checked in at 1050 with the report of Makaiwi (R4DF) fronting #1701 at Nimitz Cottages.

KC @ Bamboo Ridge

Maka'iwi @ Nimitz

4-29-11 Team Billand Late Entry

Barb sent these incrediable photos in late this evening.... 2AW was snoozing at Kalaeloa. Team Billand decided to check out the area in the early evening and she got these great shots of 2AW

Maka'iwi @ campbells while storm was passing through. Barb said no rain just lots of thunder and and lightening... At one point the thunder clap was soo loud it scared the crap out of Maka'iwi for real... sorry no pics of that.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

April Pups Galore on Kauai

Thank you Dana for sending these off to us... and whoever on Kauai sent them over to Dana Thank You for the great shots.... We appreciate seeing the updates... This photo of two moms side by side nursing has to be one of the first...

RK22 (KP2's mom) and pup - then ROCKY and her new pup

Well this makes pup sitting a little easier... lets hope everyone does well.

RK22 being a mom... look at the size of the fins on this little one

Sweetness

4-28-11 DB Dailies

At 0643, from the Makapuu Overview I found what would prove to be Duke (RA12) just hauling out, 40 ft right of 3BS on Rabbit Island. At 1010 he would be joined by Buster (RV08) and later at 1047 Kolohe (RW22) would haul out to join the other two. The all entered the water for a swim/play session at 1112. I went off to other responses, but at 1248 from the Makapuu Overview I found one of them just hauling out right of 3BS. When I finally got back to Makai Pier at 1335 I found all three together, snoozin' 40 ft left of Seal Rock Inlet.

Because I was intent on my "Irma Quest" on populated beaches, I didn't get to my AD's check until 0830. There I found KC (RK28) , 30 feet east of the AD's Wall. While I was cordoning her off, a witness stopped by to see if she was "still here". He said that he had seen her at 1900 last night, slighting more out on the rocks. Apparently, she had overnighted. She departed of her own volition , with the high tide at 1228.

While on my way from AD's to Makai Pier, at 1252, I stopped along the road side above Makapuu Beach, at found Irma (R010) at the extreme right end of the beach. I immediately went down and cordoned her off. I spoke with the lifeguards on my way out, and they said that she had hauled out around noon. They had not called anybody .(Some are better than others). Irma departed at 1912. I picked up the stuff and called it a day at 1930.

Team Billand had a typically busy day. They reported Pohaka (RO28) at Electric Beach at 1016. At 1045 they found Kermit (R4DG) at White Plains, fronting #1708. At 1200 they reported Ewa Girl (RS00), at Wind Sock, Kalaeloa Beach. She departed at 1543. Lastly, at 1219 they reported Makaiwi (R4DF) fronting #1806 at Nimitz Cottages.

Dana forwarded shots of RK22 and pup on Kauai, but since you are dealing with a computer Neanderthal, I've never been able to figure out a way to download the shots as they were packaged. Hopefully, Donna is more akamai than I. Check da' blog in the morning to see the shots.

Kolohe, Duke and Buster