05/29/2020 Friday Safe-At-Home (66) Monk Seal Dailies

Aloha Good People, I hope you are all doing well and staying safe. 
Lesley's Ka'ena Point update is part two of the dailies.

Team Billand had an exciting find today.  They were out at Ka'ena West and spotted a silvery critter with lots of cookie scars. When Barb got the tag shots R8HX and RK90 (yes these two tags on the same critter).  Well they got on the coconut wire and our Pal Val was able to ID her a female from Kauai born 2011. Not too much is known about her.  We believe this is her first visit/sighting on Oahu.
She didn't give them much else to work with in that she stayed in one position. There was another seal next to her.  

They finally got to it's tags RW76/RW77 who is RW02 PvKauai.  Confused yet? I am!  LOL  Often times what happens is a critter will get retagged, but the original number sticks with its ID.  ( example Ka'ena is known to be RO40, but has been retagged with 054 in which we rarely refer to).
The two of them were in the same spot when Team Billand headed out. 

When Team Billand was heading back to their car they spotted a seal bobbing its head in the water at Yoks.They saw four boys and their parents sitting on shore who had not seen the seal yet.  Team Billand tried to get down to the shore, bu the boys saw the seal and got very excited running towards it.

Team Billand called out to them to give the seal room. Once they got to the family they gave them a quick monk seal 101.  Parents were excited for the opportunity to see this.
RN14 Kalani hauled all the way up and his natural bleach was visible. Team Billand spoke with the lifeguards and they had warned the folks not to go down to that area, in that the waves could wash them out. ( Some people just don't listen).

Team Billand's next find was a little green seal on the rocks. They recognized the scar on the right side of the face. It was RL20 little Kalua. He is looking very green but not molting yet.

Their last find was RH36 Kawena and she was alone today. She was resting comfortably. I guess Lefty was left behind! LOL  get it?  LOL

R8HX/RK90 - This poor girl looks like someone was playing tic-tac-toe 

RW02 PvKauai 

RN14 Kalani 

 Very excited little boy

 RL20 Kalua

RH36 Kawena