MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: 01/05/2020 Sunday Monk Seal Dailies

Sunday, January 5, 2020

01/05/2020 Sunday Monk Seal Dailies

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

Marilyn checked Rabbit Island twice today, first time was before noon and there were no seals.
She returned at 3:30 and spent about 30 minutes viewing two seals on Left Point Beach. Seal #1 adult male, newer coat and mottled belly. She did not see tags but then again the vantage point wasn't the best for that.
Seal #2 juvenile female, cream color belly, and 2 tags seen during a very helpful flipper flex.

Team Billand found their first critter of the day just before 8 am. They had been out since before 6 am and covered a lot of sand, and finally they came across RW02 PvKauai. They were hoping to find Da Benny who I suspect is outer island cruising the females.
RW02 PvKauai was resting on shore and a small dog off leash ran up to him. Small dog thought better of the situation and turned around and RW02 was left alone. Team Billand called the hotline immediately to fill them in on the situation.

Next stop for Team Billand upon arrival they heard the seals vocalizing. There to the right were two seall that popped out of the water and up on the rocks. It took them a bit but they finally ID'd RH76 Kala and RN14 Kalani. Both remained in the same spot all day.

Then Team Billand spotted Kawena RH36 on a small sand patch, snoozing away. She was really dry and probably had spent the night Then Team Billand heard Kawena go through a sneeze-a-thon.
Next Team Billand could hear a seal vocalizing really loud, they found a seal with his head up against the reef, just moaning away. There was a fisherman above watching who waved to Team Billand and then moved away from that area. The critter continued to mid rocks and hauled out, they were able to ID R3CX.

At 9:45 am Team Billand headed over to White Plains and there they found RV08 Buster on shore by one of the life guard towers. Life Guards put up a zone around him. Team Billand called the hotline.

Noontime Team Billand was back to the west side and there they found the lovely Lei Ola alone and snoozing. Her tag was barely visible but they got the number for a positive ID. She was alone and even after waiting around for a bit no other seals came by.

Team Billand headed back to re-check on the critters they found earlier. When they arrived they immediately saw "fat boy" Ka'ale RH32 on the rocks sleeping and NOT bothering anyone at the moment.

Next they found R3CU (not to be confused with R3CX) Team Billand got the tag shot to get a positive ID along with his cookie scar on lower back. He was to the right sleeping with R3CX, Kekoa and RIP. Seems this was the place to be today if you were a seal.
I often wonder if it has to do with the swells, or access to certain fish at different times of the year that make them all show up in one area.
RIP was off to the right, resting with his markers visible. He is looking quite big.
Kekoa was next to R3CU and didn't move much just slept.

The best find for Team Billand came when they found RL20 Kalua who was snoozing on the rocks without a care in the world. He was a bit greenish, tags showing, being cute rolling and sneezing. I know Team Billand has been looking for him for days now, being a bit worried. But he's okay healthy and happy.

Another critter we haven't heard about in a bit RG28 Lefty was all the way to the left of all the other seals. His bleach on left flipper now looking a little greenish, broken and G29 tag confirmed his ID.

RW02 PvKauai had relocated from his earlier haul out spot to join the party with the rest of the critters. He hauled in looked around for a spot, then hauled up into the shallow pond next to the other boys.

Last critter for Team Billand was close to 4 pm. It was RL42 Leia alone sleeping on the rocks near yoks. There were tons of people out on the beach today in that its' the last day of winter vacation.

Rabbit Island Seal #1 U/M