MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: May 2021

Monday, May 31, 2021

05/31/2021 Monday Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Lesley, Marilyn, posse pal & diver Paul H and Team R&B💕 Lesley's Ka'ena update is part two of the dailies.

Diver Paul sent word that he had Kolohe RW22 in his sites. He had been diving and spotted Kolohe who hung around the the divers for about 20 minutes. Paul got some good video footage of him. When he and his group got out of the water he found Kolohe hauled out at Lanai Lookout.

Marilyn got a call from a neighbor at 7 am letting her know there was "humongous" monk seal at

Sandys. So she got herself together and headed down to the beach. The seal was R016 Right Spot, who is looking healthy but not sure if she is hapai. She was initially sleeping in a fresh truck tire rut on the beach. Marilyn called the hotline. She stayed with Right Spot for just over an hour with her until she entered the water and left the area.

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 1:10 to 2:50 today. The only seals on island during that time was RL12 Aukai and her female pup P04 #215. They were again directly down from the 2BS, almost exactly where they were yesterday. RL12's applied N13 bleach and her two rear flipper tags were easily seen. Marilyn also saw P04's red roto-tag.

After leaving the Pier Marilyn stopped off at Lanai Lookout to check on RW22 Kolohe. She observed him for about 20 minutes from the slope down from the parking lot. Kolohe was on the rock flats and was getting washed over by waves. He finally decided to depart and rode down the rock flats with the waves.

Team R&B headed out to Ka'ena West and found two seals sleeping on the rocks. There was RN14 Kalani and in the company of Lei Ola RH48. Lei Ola is at least 50% molted. They didn't stay too long, it was hot and crowded. On their way out they saw the Kalani was snoozing at the cliffs alone.

Team R&B decided to leave the west side and head over to visit with RL42 Leia and P03 Puka. When

they arrived they first found a large female on shore, it was RN58 Luana. The waves were getting to her she left about 1:30 and disappeared into the water.

They got to the area and saw Kaale RH32 moving about entering the water and headed toward Camp Erdman direction. But he came back to the same spot, looked around, reentered the water and swam over to Mom and Pup. He got within 10 feet of Leia RL42 who barked at him to back off. Kaale stopped rolled into the water and left heading in the direction of the point.

Team R&B spent an hour visiting with RL42 Leia and Puka P03. They noticed the growth in the pup in just a few days. Both Mom and pup were on shore, Mom blocking the kid from the rising surf.

Kolohe RW22 with a sore lip

Video of Kolohe underwater

Kolohe @ Lookout

Right Spot R016

Rabbit Island Aukai and P04

Kalani RN14

Lei Ola RH48 molting

Lei Ola and Kalani

RN58 Luana

Kaale RH32

RL42 Leia, P03 and Kaale approaching

Mom and Pup

05/31/2021 (part 2 ) Lesley's Ka'ena Update

All thru the night we heard the surf coming up, there was a nice bump this morning and the boys went out to play. I decided to walk the beaches and check on the seals. Got several reports of a drone fishing line on the surf break and that surfers were getting snagged by it. We called DOCARE since flying drones inside the State Park is illegal. Kimo came out and showed me his arm, while on a wave the line tangled on him he though he managed to bypass it but not, it snagged his forearm. He has a big blood bruise from elbow to the back of his hand.

In the seal world I got to see three siblings RL42 Leia (b.2012 to R912 Nihoa) & P03 Puka D20, RN58 Luana (b.2013 to R912 Nihoa) and RH32 Ka'ale (M b.2016 to R912 Nihoa)

More soon - Be Safe

Sunday, May 30, 2021

05/30/2021 Sunday Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Marilyn, Melody & Gamma Gayle, Team R&B and blog friends Team B&C.

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island today from 11:55 to 2:25, and she only saw Mom and pup. RL12 Aukai and P04 Loli'i who were located almost directly down from the 2BS. Seems they are slowly moving their way along the RI coastline. Most of the time mom and pup were in snooze mode. Aukai got a bit upset when the first jet ski went by near shore at about the same time two interlopers who were throwing a net were walking along the island. The two walkers did try to avoid them by walking behind but Aukai was very aware of their presence.

Team R&B was out early and did their search when they came across a lovely female coming up on the

rocks. It was RH76 Kala. She remained there all day and on their last check she was in a small pond cooling off from the heat.

Next check was to the outfall and of course there was Kaale RH32 foraging. After he had his fill he left the area. They found him shortly after hauled up on the rocks. He is looking quite robust and happy.

In spite of the heat Team R&B took a hike out to Ka'ena West (with lots of water). The place was crowed with lots of people out and about. Not far into the walk they saw a seal in a hurry bobbing up and down looking around the area. It was RN14 Kalani who galumphed up on the rocks looking and looking, but no other seals around. He went into the small pond and went to sleep. He was really hard to see which is good so he wouldn't be bothered.

At one point they had stopped and looking at the rocks and to their surprise there was a seal that was molting, about 45% done. It took them a very long time to ID and they tried to keep the spot secret from the people walking by. Some folks already knew she was there and at one point there were four HPD officers on quads. They were concerned that the seal was okay, Team R&B explained she was resting and in the process of molting. Based on watching over her they believe this is Lei Ola RH48, I'm sure when she finishes her molt she will look gorgeous in her new coat.

Blog buddies Team B&C they were out visiting Kaiwi and P02. I remember when we all originally met

when Kaiwi gave birth a few years back. They sent a video of P02 working on his roll.

Melody spent the day with Gamma Gayle watching over Kaiwi and Loli'i. Kaiwi and pup were on their way in the water and this may have been their 2nd swim already. They were out for close to an hour, both doing deep dives. At one point they couldn't see Kaiwi and worried that this was the moment everyone is dreading. But mom resurfaced and everyone had a sigh of relief. They finally hauled in and P02 needed a snack and then snoozed for a while.

During the day they went out for two more swims. One point the water was really rough which P02 wasn't wanting to go, but Kaiwi persisted and he went. P02 got bounced around a lot, but he held his head up over the water and rode the waves like a champ. Kaiwi is a good momma! Once back on the beach Kaiwi ran some pigeons off the beach.

Aukai and P04