MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: 5/26/2018 Monk Seal Dailies:

Saturday, May 26, 2018

5/26/2018 Monk Seal Dailies:

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand and Marilyn.

Team Billand did KoOlina early with no seals. They left and headed out to check out the other beaches. At 6:15 am they found Pohaku RO28 at Plains way down by the fence line. They got the signs and put the zone around her. They called the hotline. Barbara stayed with Pohaku and Robert went to pick up Olivia. Barbara spent lots of time educating the crowds of kids and folks. It was very busy day (of course Sunny, Saturday on Holiday weekend). Team Billand was out there until 9 and then left site. At this time no volunteer had arrived, hopefully someone made it out there to keep the crowds at bay.

Team Billand received a call about another seal at KoOlina while they were sitting with Pohaku, they had reported the information to the hotline. After leaving Pohaku they decided to check it out to see if the critter was still there.
When they got to the site they didn't see any seals on shore, but they did see a volunteer with a sign on the left end of the lagoon. Barbara spotted the seal in the water trying to leave the lagoon. She was able to ID Benny RE74 by the scar on the back of his head left side and facial marks. Benny tried to leave the right side but the tide was low, so he made it to the next outlet and took off heading towards Paradise Cove. Team Billand left the area by 9:45, and didn't see any critters the rest of the day.

Marilyn and Lesley did the Ka'ena Point trek today. The only seal they saw at NARS was RW02 PvKauai who was asleep on the runway. He was ID'd by his W14 tag. He was the only seal they spotted out at the point.

Marilyn also checked in at the "playpen" both before and after the Ka'ena Point trek. RN58 Luana and PO4 were on the CE portion of the SRA. Shortly before there had been a swim session.
RL42 Leia and PO5 they were out for a swim at the KP side of their SRA. PO5 is getting bigger and the bleach mark is getting smaller :-) No confirmation on gender at this time, but MAYBE a little girl.

THEN... Marilyn spent about 2 hours checking out Rabbit Island. Soon after arriving RB12 Sadie and PO6 were at the Left Point Beach. It was difficult to see the Pup since it was mostly behind momma Sadie.
Looking through the scope she was searching for weaner RK38 Hali'a from when she first arrived. Marilyn didn't spot her until 4 pm. She was on the left point rock flats, she never changed position and only showed her left side.
Along with Sadie PO6 and Hali'a, Marilyn spotted two unknown seals. One was an unknown juvenile female about 10 feet left of the 1BS. There were no ID markers but hoping it was Kawena.

Near seal rock inlet on the right side of the island Marilyn spotted a juvenile male. Unable to ID with no markers. ( This is sooooo frustrating we want to know who :-)

Marilyn wasn't done yet, she made one more stop before heading home for the night. She went to check in on Kaiwi RK96 and PO3. As they have been doing most evenings they moved up the naupaka at the end of the day and the pup was nursing.

Worth noting: Marilyn spent time with five of the 6 pups born on Oahu today. That in itself makes for a great day!

Benny RE74