September 19, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, Team T&D, Lesley and posse pal Vicki.  Lesley's Ka'ena update is part two of the dailies. 

In the yesterday's news department posse pal Vicki had a four seal day on Wednesday.  First there was RL36 Makoa by himself snoozing.
Squinty R330 and Nanea RL44 were on the same beach but pretty much help to them. Squinty did quite a bit of scratching, rolling back n'forth on his back.  Vicki didn't say for sure, but it sounds like molting behavior to me. ;-)
Then Holokai was on his own, snoozing but looking very handsome.  Thank you Vicki for sharing.

Team T&D spent their last day on their Big Island vacation checking out a known seal haul out. The one critter they wanted to see and hadn't as of yet was Manu'iwa RK26. They walked the shoreline and then bumped into their BI friend who informed them there was no seal.  No sooner said, she pointed behind Tammy, who turned and there was a seal. It's unclear who was more surprised Tammy of their friend.
It gets better, Tammy gets a tag shot and there it is, RK26 Manu'iwa, now the list is complete :-)
She hauled out with 20 minutes before Team T&D had to leave for the airport.

Let's just say Team T&D are convinced the "seal Whisperer" had a hand in all their sightings. 
Also as a note: the untagged female seal they saw yesterday is an unknown and confirmed to be a new seal to the area. WOW!
Once again I am going to just paste Tammy's words, rather than paraphrase: 
"I would like to give a big THANK YOU to the Big Island volunteer (who reads the blog) who I spent many hours with and  who I became friends with.  Although I have been seeing your seals for many years, this is the first time I learned about them.  You shared your stories about them, their personalities, and your observations.  I truly appreciate all that you shared.  Sharing is the best way to help this endangered species not only survive but also thrive."  (and thank you from the blog lady too).

Team Billand once again headed over to KoOlina before 6 am. RH92 Nalani was all the way up but not by her Naupaka bush. She is very alert this morning.  She would roll on one side, flip to the other side, use her nose to plow the sand.  Barbara spotted what appears to be a new cookie cutter shark bite on her left side, near her fore flipper. It doesn't appear to be anything serious, but will be a new marker.
There was a zone already up when they got there. Visitors were already arriving and close to the ropes.  As usual they spent time educating many folks, as well as calling the hotline and left a message.

At 8:30 am volunteer arrived and Team Billand updated them on her new cookie wound, and that she might be ready to leave soon. At 9ish they were watching her and she had that "look" she was going. Volunteer ran for the signs and small ropes and Team Billand kept an eye on her.
Nalani RH92 was making her way to mid beach, so they kept the folks back, volunteer brought some signs, Rob got the ropes and Security came to help them out. 
And here comes RH92 Nalani, looking very cute with her nice new coat. She hauled in and plowed her snout into the sand, tossed the sand so it landed on her back. The folks watching got the biggest kick out of this. Nalani RH92 has become a sweetheart to many of the residents from KoOlina who look forward to her antics.

All is good, zone is up, volunteer there to watch over, spectators are respectful, but most importantly everyone worked together in harmony.

Team Billand checked out the usual spots, and it was at Campbells where they spotted a seal in the water.  The seal was foraging, looks to be an adult, nice coat, cookie scar on mid back. They watched for an hour, but could not get an ID, so it was reported as an U/U.

Holokai

 Makoa

 Nanea

 Squinty

  Manu'iwa RK26 Big Island 

RH92 Nalani

UU foraging at Campbells