MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: January 29, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

January 29, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Team Billand AND another Big Island update from Team T&D.

Team Tammy and Dave checked a few spots on the Big Island. At one point when they were heading back to their care they spotted a seal foraging off shore. They called the Big Island hotline and while talking they "guessed" it might be RW34 by size. Later in the day after they left the site, Team T&D received confirmation that the seal hauled out and was ID'd as RW34.

Aside from spotting a seal foraging they saw a beautiful Nene. They watched for awhile and was kept wondering what it was looking at. Then they noticed a nesting Nene across the way. (Way Cool !)

The first seal of the day for Team Billand was the lovely miss Pohaku RO28. Barbara didn't say too much about her other than her location, but judging from the photo I'll just say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Next sighting was off shore at campbells where there were multiple seals foraging. One was ID'd as Kolohe RW22 because of that BEAUTIFUL applied bleach. He was playing, fighting and foraging with the others.
One of the critters that was playing with the group finally hauled out and he was ID'd as Kea RN46. Another easy ID with his big beautiful natural bleach marks.
From this point it gets a little more difficult. There was one critter coming ashore, being cautious. It was a large seal with cookie scar on back.

Could be a female based on the size, but they never saw the belly. This critter also had a mark on left shoulder and reported as a UU, unless someone can shed some light on the situation.
Another critter at the site was a U/M, although Team Billand tried there was too much going on to determine this boys ID.

Last sightings of the day was Kekoa Alii RK72 and RW02 PvKauai. Kekoa was on lower rocks with his head facing the water. RW02 was mid rocks to the right alone and snoozing.

Nene lookout