August 20, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

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

Team Billand arrived at the pupping site before 6 am and spotted three seals. Nanea PO5 was high up on shore at birth beach, Pohaku RO28 by her and then a third seal in the water.  (Here we go... those boys!)
The seal in the water galumphed high up to Pup and sniffed her, didn't harm or was aggressive in any way.  Didn't matter to big Momma, Pohaku came charging down, and this male RN14 took off leaving the area.  The photos were taken before there was daylight so most of them were just a blur.


Pohaku took Nanea into the cove to explore. At one point Pohaku lost sight of Nanea and went off barking with her mouth wide open.  Nanea was just below her and Pohaku completely missed her.
Pohaku took off away from area, more exploring. She lands for a nursing session, which seems to being taking a while. Nanea is getting impatient pokes and bites at her. Then Mom turns on the faucet and the kid settles in for a good feed. Eyes closes, milk coming through nostrils.... totally in a milk coma.

At 11 am after another swim Nanea comes close to shore and Pohaku is close behind. They land on shore by the ropes and signs. Team Billand and volunteers scrambles to get people behind the ropes and some distance between them. Volunteer worked to keep people away.

Team Billand received a call about another seal so they left to check it out. While Team Billand went to check on the haul out, Melody had arrived on site. A new zone was up and now Mom and pup were up on shore, there was another nursing session and they both snoozed for a while.  
Just after an hour Pohaku headed into the water and Nanea stayed behind on the beach still snoozing.
Pohaku was chilling floating around in the water, when Nanea woke up facing away from the water. She looked around and started barking in a panic. Pohaku returned a bark, Nanea quickly turned around and slid into the water making a bee line for mama.
They spent a while in the water practicing dives and it looked as though Nanea was going for something deep down. She is a strong swimmer for sure.  Mom and Pup came back up on the beach again and yet another area was roped off and visitors moved away. Melody did as much outreach as she could, in that many of the visitors were Japanese. 

Team Billand returned and now Pohaku and Nanea had another male visitor. Benny RE74 came in looked to Mom and Pup.  All it took was Pohaku barking at him and swam off.  

When Team Billand left the site to check on a seal they found Ka'ale RH32 at one of the west side locations. GREAT News there was no hook visible. Team Billand let NOAA know and they will continue to monitor. Ka'ale his still a mean green eating machine.


A little distance away they also found RN14 Kalani up on some rocks sleeping. Guess after his quick visit to mom and pup he came here to rest.

The other critter on Team Billand's list today was RH92, who was snoozing by a canal. Team Billand's friend had informed them of her presence so they went to check her out. 

Pohaku, Nanea and RN14 at dawn

 

 we're getting mighty big, need to do more crunches.

 chow time

 Da Benny 

 Pohaku standing her ground.

 Mom and Pup 

RH32 Ka'ale - It isn't easy being green

 RH92 Hanging out

 RN14 Kalani resting on the rocks.