April 24, 2026 Friday's Rabbit Island Update

I viewed Rabbit Island from Makai Pier from 11:53 am to 1:49 pm. It was generally sunny with some passing clouds and moderate winds. There were lots of "heat waves" that tend to blur the photos.

Apparently a DLNR team visited the island today, but they had departed by the time I arrived. They tried to get some bleaches on some of the moms and pups, but I did not knowingly see any, but the seals did not show me the positions where the bleaches were applied.

MO3 and PO3 were again near the LPB surge channel which is a challenged to photo. I did not see them enter the water while I was viewing, but they did move around some. Both mom and pup seem healthy. MO3 apparently has one red tag, but the DLNR team were unable to read it, so her ID is still unknown.

At 12 noon, what I think was R430 hauled out down from the 1BS. He kept putting his head up and looking in MO3 and PO3's direction, but he never came close to them. He is sub-adult size, has no tags, a mottled tan male ventral, and a shallow pit scar above his LFF (which did not show in any of my photos. Later I noticed he was missing and then he visited RF34 Pua and her pup PO5.

RF34 Pua and PO5 were about midway between the 3BS and SRI again on waterfront rocks. PO5 was mostly hidden behind mom so I did not see much of it. At about 1:26 pm, R430 hauled out to Pua and appeared to be right next to her. She rolled partially and appeared to vocalize, but she let the visitor right next to her. He then left and moved in the Makapuu direction toward RK38 and PO4, but did not bother them and then disappeared.

RK38 Hali'a/Lauloa was also on the waterfront rocks and partially hidden. PO5 had to again partially crawl on mom to nurse. Both mom and pup seem fine.

April 24, 2026 Yesterday's News Rabbit Island

I viewed Rabbit Island from Makai Pier from 12:06 to 1:53 pm on 04/23/2026. It was somewhat sunny with lots of passing clouds. I left when a squall was coming through.

There were seven HMS seen on RI during my viewing session.

Just as I started viewing MO3 and PO3, a sub-adult male seal approached mom and pup. Later the sub-adult entered the water passing right near MO3 and PO3. More about him later.  MO3 and PO3 both seem healthy. The had one swim session and one nursing session during my viewing session.

After departing from MO3 and PO3, the sub-adult male hauled out on the 1BS side of LPB. I believe this seal is R430
(formerly TempN25) based on his sub-adult size, lack of tags, male belly and shallow pit scar above his LFF.

RF34 Pua nursed her pup PO5 on on the waterfront rocks. Both mom and pup seem healthy.

RK38 Hali’a/Lauloa also nursed her pup PO4 on the waterfront rocks. PO4 had to practically crawl across mom’s ventral. Both mom and pup seem healthy.

April 24, 2026 Frriday's Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Team R&B💕  Once again Marilyn did view Rabbit Island, but is still having internet problems. Hopefully it will be back soon and I will post both Thursday and Friday's report.

Team R&B started their day on the west side. They spotted a little green seal on the rocks. The seal was RU12, resting alone peacefully. It's been a while since they seen this little one.

Next they stopped at kahe where they saw a seal alone resting. It took

him forever to move and once he did they saw the ding on his back, split hind flipper, scar on the right side of his face and no tags. That is when they knew it was R617 looking big and healthy.

Since they weren't finding any other critters they decided to head over to plains. When they arrived they saw a seal by the fence line. It was big boy RN14 Kalani resting in a zone. There were lots of people out on the beach today. They did note that seems due to all the fighting with RL08 he got a pink snout.

They continued to look around and found RT06 who had just hauled up by the cabins. The lifeguards were setting up a zone for him. 

RU12

R617

RN14

RT06

April 23. 2026 Thursday's Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Team R&B💕  Marilyn did view Rabbit Island but she is having internet problems, she'll send off her report when she can.

After a couple of stressful days they finally got the repairs done to their heater at home.

They got text about three seals on the rocks on the west side. When they arrived there was their first female of the day Miss Leina RL70. She is looking large and green. They were very happy to see her in that she isn't always easy to find. 

After looking around a bit there were two more seals on the rocks resting. There was Kala RH76 with Nalu R3CX. They were thrilled since they hadn't seen RH76 in five days. Also nice that Nalu was resting peacefully with her.

Next they headed over to plains. They saw four seals in the water fighting. They ID'd RL08 who is turning out to be a big bully, Then there was RG32 who landed briefly with RL08 and they fought. Then swam down the waterline and was gone.

The third seal kept trying to haul out but people were in the way all taking pictures with their phones. Team R&B ran for signs, and a surfer was very kind and helped them out. Then the lifeguard came and got the rest of the signs set up. The seal was RN14 Kalani who was finally able to land and he stayed. The fourth seal was gone. Team R&B wasn't able to get an ID.

RL70

RH76 & R3CX

RL08

RL08 & RG32

RG32

RN14

April 22, 2026 Wednesday's Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Team R&B💕

They had a very short day due to trying to get their heater repaired.   They did manage to make their way to plains to check and there was only one seal there today. The lovely Miss Aukai RL12 was alone today, none of the males there bothering her.  

In other news, over the weekend Team R&B got word that N45 -Temp 402 was on the east side. I reached out to a few friends about him and today I got a text. Sure enough the little buggah was seen and ID'd by his N45 applied bleach.  

RL12

N45