MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: 5/12/2018 Monk Seal Dailies:

Saturday, May 12, 2018

5/12/2018 Monk Seal Dailies:

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, Marilyn, our seal pal Val, and Lesley. Lesley's complete Ka'ena Trek and Pup Playpen Update is dailies part two.

I received an email from my pal Val, nice to have her share a monk seal moment with us. She spent her day monitoring RK13 and pup who turned 3 weeks old on Friday. He is growing like a weed and Momma is starting to deflate. Val commented on what a great pup year we are having this year throughout the State, between five of our islands we have 17 pups born so far this year. That's pretty amazing! She also wishes a Happy Mother's Day to all the Momma's out there! ( I assume she means us humans too :-)

Team Billand had some special assistance today granddaughter Olivia helping out. At their first stop, no seals, looked to see if any critters were foraging, no... They were getting ready to leave, but Barb's eyes spot a seal on high rocks. The seal was alone and ID'd as Kekoa Alii Rk72. On the return from their Ka'ena West side hike they spotted another seal hauling up to mid high rock. Kekoa notices the other seal and decided to leave the site heading straight out to sea.

At 10:20 am on their Ka'ena West side hike they spot a seal below the cliffs at the 20 minute mark. It's stretched out resting and they are able to ID Ka'ale RH32. They called the hotline right away, told them of the location. Barbara had seen the Hawaii Marine Animal Response pickup truck in the lot but didn't see anyone around.
On the way back of their trek, Ka'ale had moved up a bit and made it harder to see from the cliffs due to rising tide. They looked as best they could to see if there was any fishing line or hook. Couldn't tell either, but her is getting pretty green.

A little further into their trek they spotted a white belly and it was pretty easy to see this beauty was Lei Ola, with her hook still snug. Team Billand shared their binoculars with a group of kids and told them about Lei Ola and Ka'ale. Lei Ola is looking healthy, hook is visible, weight is good, and body condition is good with no new markers.

After lunch they headed back to check on Kekoa, and that is when they saw another critter hauling out. They ID'd RN14 Kalani. RN14 continuted to come up on the rocks stopped and flipped on his side. He seemed calm and not once vocalized as he normally does.

Team Billands day ended with a bang.... They received a call that there was a seal in Lagoon 4, as they were on their way home. They decided to make a stop and check things out. At 4:05 in the afternoon Security was frantically getting folks back, they had signs and Robert helped them put up a zone. They educated those people and tried to walk a little girl no more then a year old away from Benny. She took Barbara's hand but when she realized it wasn't her Mom she wasn't having it. Finally Mom came up and was obviously spooked by the deal. Team Billand called the hotline immediately and explained the beach was really crowed and they had ID'd Benny RE74.
Team Billand gave up after an hour since they had food in the car. They called security to let them know they had to leave.

Marilyn spent about 3 hours viewing Rabbit Island today from 10:30 to 13:30. She spotted the Unknown Mom whose pup was behind her at Left Point Beach when she started viewing. About 30 feet to the left she spotted Hali'a PO1 alone near the rocks at the left of Left Point Beach. Looks like Hali'a is now weaned. (We have a WEANER!) Further out on the rocks Marilyn spotted RN46 Kea.

About 1205, Hali'a started moving up the beach and closer to Mom & PO6. Mom kept an eye on PO6 and generally kept herself between the two kids. (sounds like an experienced Mom to me). PO6 was active and moved around Mom repeatedly, It attempted to nurse a few times but Marilyn did not see any extended nursing.

Confirmation of Mom's ID will require a NOAA trip to Rabbit Island.
PO1 was discovered 35 days ago on April 7th. The fact she had now been weaned suggests she may have been born before April 7th. ( But what do we use for a birthday???)

RN46 Kea was identified by his male belly and natural bleaches on his LFF and RFF. He stayed in the same location during the entire visit.

RK13 and Kauai Pup 3 weeks