MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: November 14, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Thursday, November 14, 2019

November 14, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Lesley, Team Billand, posse pal Vicki. Lesley's complete update is part 2 of the dailies.
Today is one of those very GOOD seal days, and given the past couple of months we needed this good news day. Both Team Billand and Lesley were the lucky recipients of making these discoveries.

Posse Pal Vicki covered some miles today. She was first on southeast quadrant and found little K24. Wawamalu/Bruno. He was being looked after by a volunteer on site.

Then Vicki headed up to the north shore. Upon arrival she spotted a critter on the beach from afar. Unfortunately by the time she got there the seal was gone.

Team Billand went to check on Benny before 7 am this morning. He was in the same spot as the past few days. Snoozing, yawning, flipping to his side and more yawning. This is when Barbara noticed a seal speeding by, smaller critter that she did not recognize. And so the quest began.

Team Billand headed out and at 7:30 they stopped at one of the west side locations where they found Kekoa Alii RK72. He was vocalizing and while watching him Barb spotted a little critter. Small, no scars no visible marks, red tags, but then the seal scurried away. Still no ID on this little one.
Then Team Billand spotted a seal off shore, thinking it was the same one, but no here comes Ka'ale RH32. He came in to check out the area, saw Kekoa and then left.

So the little critter returns and this time hauled out on the rocks right of Kekoa. She has lots of scratches on her left side, a black mark on her left lip and two red tags. Team Billand got the tag RH76, but didn't recognize the number. After checking with the posse and questioning who this could be.... the response was ARE YOU SURE? Yes Team Billand had the photo. Well this is Sadie's pup from 2016 born on Rabbit Island named Kala. NOW what makes this so incredible?? The last time we mentioned her on the blog was August of 2016, and to the best of my knowledge she hasn't been seen since then.

Many of us just thought she was gone forever..... but like her Mom Sadie and Grandmother Ewa Girl, she has taken off somewhere and has been living her little life. It will be interesting to see if she sticks around. ( and I know this is one of those times when DB would be beside himself with joy).
Team Billand had to leave for an appointment, but they let volunteer Melina know to come down to the site.

Team Billand returned to the site after 2 and spotted Kekoa right away on the rocks. They did see that Kala RH76 was still there and waited patiently to get a second tag shot. Kekoa was flipping over from one side to another, but it didn't bother her.

Needless to say this day made everyone's day. It just lets us know to stay hopeful, especially when times are difficult. Team Billand celebrated today by treating themselves to some manapua. And as DB would say " worth your weight in manapua" yes little Kala, you certainly made our day!

RK24