MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: November 3, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Sunday, November 3, 2019

November 3, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, Lesley, Marilyn, posse pal Paul and good Samaritan Larry from the west side.

An email this evening from Larry & Bunny M on the west side. They reported E43 aka Benny came up on the beach around 10:30 this morning and was still there at 6 pm when they sent the email. Larry mentioned he has been on the beach every day this past week except for Saturday.

Team Billand confirmed Benny's sighting as they were on the same beach just before 1 this afternoon. When they arrived there were orange flags out and a sleeping seal Benny. He is molting although they did not get to see his belly. There were folks out and about taking photos, Team Billand wanted to expand the zone around him but there wasn't an opportunity to do so.

Team Billand also had the pleasure of finding little RL70 L14. They spotted a "slither" of a seal on its back, when it flipped over to slump over the rocks they were able to see applied bleach L14. It took a while but they got the tag shot to confirm RL70/L71. This little female made her way from Molokai and Lesley has nicknamed her Leina. Unfortunately they couldn't stay much longer.

Marilyn observed Rabbit Island today and although she spotted anywhere from 5 to 7 seals it was frustrating in that she wasn't able to get any positive IDs. Weather conditions didn't help, but it's not an easy task trying to ID these critters and it really gets complicated when there are so many.

Initially she spotted five seals:
Seal 1 - adult male, near seal 2 between the 3rd blue sign and seal rock inlet. It looks like the adult male was starting to molt, but Marilyn never saw anything that indicated this critter was RW22. This adult male had an older coat, and if it was molting it is a different pattern than she saw yesterday with RW22.
Seal 2 - juvenile to sub-adult female neat Seal 1. Light female belly, newer coat and two tags. Marilyn may have seen a NB on the left rear side, but it could have been sand. She did not see any applied bleaches. It could be RK37, but Marilyn won't bet the cat on it.

Seal 3 - unknown unknown 1 (UU1) alone between Middle Cliff and 3BS. It appears this seal was adult size and had an older coat. It entered the water soon after she arrived and was not seen again.
Seal 4 - unknown unknown 2 (UU2) alone on the waterfront rocks of SRI. The seal had a newer coat and at least one tag. Marilyn only saw the seal head on and was unable to to gauge it's size.
Seal 5 - unknown unknown 3 (UU3) alone in the left middle cliff area. Juvenile size, male, and at least one tag. This seal had a darker patch on hits right middle side, that did not seem to be a "wet" spot. She noted the seal had left sometime about 1:10.

Seal 6 - About 1:30 Marilyn notices a seal up in the morning glory about 5o feet right of the 1BS. Juvenile size and female belly.
Seal 7 - Shortly after spotting Seal 6, Marilyn notices a seal had hauled out on LPB. Weaner/Juvenile size and coloring. It's possible and Marilyn thought this may be Seal 5, but she never saw the belly or tags. This seal disappeared later and may have moved further up over the sand berm.

Posse pal diver Paul sent video from a passing monk seal he spotted yesterday at Lanai Lookout.
Paul also sent video of a giant barracuda he spotted out there today. Always a pleasure to watch underwater video, thank you Paul !

Benny E43 formerly tagged as RE74