04/30/2020 Stay-At-Home (38) Monk Seal Dailies

Aloha Good People

I hope you are all well and safe.  Can you believe April is over?  Wasn't that fun?  Certainly interesting how life has changed in such a short time. 

I will say in spite of our "normal" changing, our beloved monk seals have continued to do what they do best. As you have seen in Lesley's Ka'ena update we have another pup which is PO4... yes we have four pups on Oahu so far.  I have known about PO2 for a bit and held back from posting anything just to keep her under the radar. Even with the parks, and beaches closed there are still people out there who will take advantage and get too close. I know there are folks watching over them. But they can't be there for the normal shifts when we aren't in lock down.
Stay tuned, I PROMISE as soon as I can I'll fill in some of the blanks.

In the meantime the beautiful Kawena was spotted today.  And word is K80 was out and about looking her adorable self.

 K80  KAAAAATIE

04/30/2020 Stay-At-Home (38) Lesley's Ka'ena Update

I was busy on this side today so I did a couple of checks on RL42 Leia & PO4 D8. Mom has been following the same trail up and down the beach. PO4 is independent and doesn’t seem to need mom’s flipper around him at all times so mom rests with one eye open. Kid still stays by her side and in no time it will be wondering around solo. At sunset mom made her way up the beach for the night.

I’d be embarrassed if I tell you how many photos I took to confirm RW02 PVKauai’s ID this evening. Finally on the 2 last ones I got a partial W04. 

As soon as I arrived on the cliff I saw him and knew it was him but on the side he was presenting me there’s no markers to say it’s him. For the next hour and a half I kept checking the sets and praying “this one is going to get him and he’ll move a little so I can confirm his ID”.

The strong wind and the sunset light were the biggest issues.

That was all for today.    More tomorrow

 soooo sweet

04/29/20 Stay-At-Home (37) Monk Seal Dailies

Aloha good people
I hope wherever you are you are safe and doing well.
There were a couple of sightings today along with Lesley's Ka'ena update.

RE74 Da Benny

 RH32 Ka'ale 

RG28 Lefty

 RN14 Kalani

 looking pretty big there buddy

04/29/20 Stay At Home (37) Lesley's Ka'ena Update

Started my seal with RL42 Leia & PO4 D7 the spent quite sometime near the waterline. On my last check at sunset they were moving up to mid beach to send the night.

On my way out to the point I check several favorite haul outs but all were clear.

RO40 Ka’ena was in BG’s Pool laying on his side on my way out hours later he was still there

RN04 Kainoa was again at the end of the Runway. The scar across his right eye makes it easy to ID him from far.

RL74 Kami was also in the same spot she has been for several days

R3CX was art the entrance of the Main Pool – same spot as yesterday.

On my way back I checked on all of them. When I got to M&P site I had a surprise to find R330 Squinty hauled out not to far from them. There was no interaction and they were all sleeping. On my sunset check Squinty was no longer there

More tomorrow

04/28/2020 Stay-At-Home (36) Our Hearts are Heavy with Another Loss

And just like that we have another beloved female seal gone too soon. I am including the link to the The Garden Island story that broke early this morning. 
AND I am posting in our pal Val's own words her experience and memory of R313.  
https://www.thegardenisland.com/2020/04/28/hawaii-news/another-dead-monk-seal/


Went looking for a Friend

This past Sunday the coconut wireless was active, I received a text inquiring about my knowledge of a possible dead seal on the North shore of Kauai.  I quickly replied that I wasn't aware of anything, but not surprised of no notification due to the Stay-Home order we are under.  **All Seal Volunteers are on stand down orders at the current time.  Dialed up the coconut wireless and asked if more information was available. Further information told me the seal was untagged and large and they were working on IDing the seal.   That news only told me who the seal wasn't....

Fast forward to Monday....grateful that our exercise on the beach restriction was lifted so that I could hike to my favorite spot.  I was hoping that I would find my friend, who has been absent for several of my recent hikes. It wasn't uncommon for me to not see her every time I went out, she was a bit of a mystery seal.  She was first sighted in 2009 and was believed to be approximately 4 years old at that time, so with that timeline, she would be around 15--not young, but definitely not old!!

My first encounter with her was in 2014, she had some interesting ID markers--but no tags.  She would try my patience as I sat and waited for what seemed like hours for her to move an inch so I could see her scars. Just as I was about to give up on an ID she'd flop over and give me the needed markers.  I would smile, snap the photos and tell her I'd catch her next time. Whether she would be there the next time was totally up to her. 

A couple years ago, I was asked who was my favorite seal--well that's a loaded question given my extensive time with KP2, love that goofball but my response was R313.  She wasn't famous like other seals (Rocky, Pohaku, Kp2 or Honey Girl) she was just seal that showed up, usually solo.  To my knowledge she was never hooked or even seriously injured. She just was....  The past few summers I would watch as her belly grew, then she went missing.  Eight weeks  later she'd reappear back at her spot, just thinner.  Guessing she made her way to Niihau to pup, bet she was a great momma. 

Back to Monday, I was at her spot when I got the official notice that our deceased seal was R313.  My heart sank, tears filled my eyes. Too many seals have passed away in the last couple weeks--I only hope that some of R313's offspring are female and will make their way to Kauai to add to the HMS population. 

The worst part of the news was R313 was pregnant, so we not only lost a great momma, but a pup as well.  Needless to say I'm sad...

Sharing a couple photos--one is her pretty face and the other is the overview of her spot. 

Be well.   Val :)

04/28/2020 Stay-At-Home (36) Lesley's Ka'ena Update

On my morning check RL42 Leia & PO4 D6 were down near the waterline, on other checks during the day they made their way up slowly till the high tide mark at sunset for the night.

RL98 Lina did a morning low tide haul out in front of the house and spent the day there. She looked so small on the long stretch of untouched beach.

Heading towards the point I found RK40 Napua swimming around some reefs. I followed her for a while and she later hauled out @ Hidden Beach (great to see her and her om RL42 Leia on the same day)

At the point in separate locations I documented R3CU, RN04 Kaino, RL74 Kami and R3CX

More tomorrow