At 0636 I found M&M (R020), and pup on D#12, high on the beach, behind Seal Rock Inlet on Rabbit Island. They would move down and back up with the tide, remaining at RI all day. I observed 3 feeds and lots of snoozin'. Most of the day was spent on the water front rocks, in a perfect sized tide pool where both Mom and kid could stay wet all day.On our 0730 Spitting Cave check we found Kolohe (RW22) doing 6 minute dives. When I got back to Makai Pier at 0830 I found that Buster (RV08) had joined the cast 100 ft left of 1BS on RI, and Duke (RA12) was up in the Morning Glory, 40 ft right of 3BS. Duke would move down and up with the tide..
Buster was in full "cruiser mode" today. He entered the water at 1212 and after patroling the beach front for a while, hauled out briefly to Duke's location, only to reenter the water after a couple of minutes. Next he hauled out to Seal Rock Inlet, and slyly checked out M&M and Pup for a while. M&M alerted to him, and charged 3 separate times, bellowing all the while. Buster got the hint and beat flipper outta' there. At 1410 he hauled out to the left end of the beach, 80 ft left of 1BS, where he remained the rest of the day. Team Billand checked in at 0711 to report Makaiwi (R4DF) fronting #1806, at Nimitz Cottages. At 0846 they found Max (R5EW) at Kalaeloa Campgrounds.
At 1230 Barbara called to advise that Benny (RE74) had hauled out briefly to Wind Sock, but quickly reentered the water swimming off in an easterly direction. Barbara followed on the beach. At 1250 Benny hauled out to join Max at KCG, and both entered the water together, swimming off in an easterly direction. At 1309 they tried to haul out to the east end fence line at White Plains, but the on shore hordes standing at the water line would not allow it, so the critters continued on to the east. Barbara called at 1326 from Hau Bush to advise that Max had turned and moved back toward the west, while Benny continued on to the east. Barbara lost sight of Max at 1336.
Team Kenyon did the Ka'ena Point trek today. Unfortunately, they did not find CeeCee, but did confirm Ka'ena (RO40), Kerby (RW08), and Noa (R6FI) at the end of the world.Barbara called at 1817 reporting that they had recieved a call about a possibly entangled seal in Ewa Beach. They called again at 1823 to advise that they had received word that the animal had departed. That is all the info I have as of this writing.
Maka'iwi @ Nimitz
Max @ Kalaeloa Camp grounds
Benny @ wind sock
Max and Benny @ Kaleloa Camp Grounds
Wow... you really get to see how small max is...
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3 comments:
Thank you volunteers who came out today to care for Makaiwi at Nimitz, The Dills and Brian.
Max was alone at Kalaeloa in the am. By afternoon, Benny discovered him, got Max to follow him to plains. It was horrible out there with hundreds of folks. They spotted the seals passing, and when they tried to haul up, well, they kept going to the seals and both ended up leaving, heading Ewa Beach way. I continued to follow on foot, all the way from the camp grounds..I wanted to see where little Max was going????? Benny got this thing, he takes little seals, who are innocently curious, get them to follow him...then...THEY ARE GONE. Well, I tried so hard to keep up with them critters, but lost them after a mile or more and they were still going Ewa Beach way. I did see Max turn and was heading Plains way but then he was out of my sight. Sure hope he dont leave the SWQ..I so enjoyed visiting with him almost every day. Like I said, he is a very little seal, vulnerable to anything. If he is seen tomorrow, I'd be a happy old fart. He means so much to me and Rob, been viewing him since March 1, 2011. Come back Max...PLEASE.
He really is tiny by comparison.
Seal entanglement ended up being either a false alarm, or the animal was playing with a non seal object, or he was thrashing a tako. Barbara and I think it is probably the latter according to the description of the seals behavior. All was well after the last contact with observers on the beach and an off duty HPD guy in his kayak reported the animal had either disentangled itself or dropped the object and sawn away. Wonder who the critter was, Max, Benny???
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