Thursday, December 31, 2020

12/31/2020 Thursday Monk Seal Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, Team T&D and Marilyn.

Team Billand was at the bay around 10 am. After some rain the skies cleared and they found five seals all hauled out and one unknown in the water.

RN44 was in his favorite spot on the rocks to the left, snoozing peacefully.  They were surprised to find RH76 Kala on the rocks to the right. She was just hauling out and it took them a minute to figure out who it was. Thankfully her tag was visible.

All the way to the left was Nalu R3CX just arriving. He galumphed up on the rocks, where they found

a big female snoozing on the rocks. There was Lei Ola RH48 looking quite green, tags showing and did not react when Nalu arrived. He got closer and just went to sleep.  RL20 Kalua was even hauled out on the rocks today.

They noticed a seal foraging to the left, but by the time they noticed the seal moved on. They were not able to get any sense of an ID.

Team T&D hiked Ka'ena today and crossed paths with Lesley near the NAR. They only spotted three seals today. R330 Squinty was on the waterline when they arrived. They saw PvKauai RW02 and Luana RN58 hauled out together. The crowds are back at the point, they hadn't seen this many people since March. Thankfully everyone was respectful of the seals.

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 12:20 to 2 pm. There were four seals on LPB at varying distances from the 1BS. If these are the same four seals as yesterday then one of the IDs from yesterday was wrong. 

Same as yesterday RK37 Huia was coming down from the vegetation when she arrived. She is juvenile to subadult size, darker yellow female belly and an older coat, 2 tags and NB on left lower side towards the rear. FYI RK37 is Sadie's RB12 daughter from 2018.

The other three critters were, UJF, unknown juvenile to subadult size, light yellow female belly, two tags. Marilyn "thought/wondered" if this could be RK38 Aukai's daughter from 2018.  UJM, unknown juvenile to subadult size, very light male belly and two tags. Again wondering if this could be RK24, Kaiwi's pup for 2018. UAM, unknown adult size, darker coat, medium gray male belly and two tags. This could be the Uknown Adult from yesterday.

RN44
RH76 Kala
Nalu and Lei Ola
R3CX Nalu
RH48 Lei Ola
RL20 Kalua
UU
R330 squinty
PvKauai RW02 and Luana RN58
Rabbit Island

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

12/30/2020 Wednesday Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand and Marilyn. Marilyn's Rabbit Island update is part 2 of the dailies.

Team Billand got a late start today. They arrived at the bay at 10:30 and found RN44 on the left rocks. He was alone and sound a sleep. His tags were visible and he showed his belly. They are not sure if his molt has begun.

RG28 Lefty was at the front water rock area. They watched him

foraging and after something, turned out to be a tree branch. Lei Ola RH28 was also in the bay foraging. Team Billand noticed a seal approaching Lei Ola and a fight broke out. Turned out to be Nalu R3CX bugging Lei Ola.   Little RL20 was seen swimming by the jetty with his very green face. Much to their surprise they spotted N4 Kai. They didn't realize he was out there with so many seals foraging, fighting and moving all over. 

Team Billand had junior sealette Oliva today. On their way taking her home today they made one more stop. They found RL70 Leina high mid rocks. She got hit by a massive wave speeding in that it moved her about. She did her best to hang in there. Another wave and that is when she galumphed to higher rocks.  

R3CU was on lower rocks, taking a few good hits by the massive surf. He didn't care and just stayed in place. He is looking healthy and plump.

RN44

RG28 Lefty
Lei Ola RH48
Nalu R3CX
RL20 Kalua
N4 Kai
RL70 Leina
R3CU
Iwi