08/31/2020 Monday Stay-At-Home Monk Seal Dailies

 Critters seen on the west side of Oahu were:

Lefty RG28 was moving up on shore where folks normally go and have picnics.  There was another seal  just above him. This seal turned out to be RH32 Ka'ale who was higher up than RG28.  Both of them look like they are ready to molt.  One of the fishermen in the area mentioned Ka'ale had stolen a rather large papio earlier this morning.

Our beautiful Kawena RH36 was hauled out on the rocks. She was very cooperative by making her tags visible. She was alone.

At a different location R3CX Nalu was on the rocks. His tags, left sided scar on shoulder and natural bleach on his face were visible.  RN14 Kalani was next to Nalu and both were sleeping in peace. 

Last critter seen today was RF28 Paakea. He was at an entirely different location than all the others. He was resting on the rocks.  Later he moved down into a pond and was cooling off. His tags were visible as well as his natural bleach on left shoulder.

Lefty RG28

Lefty and Ka'ale

Ka'ale RH32

Kawena RH32

R3CX Nalu

RN14 Kalani

RF28 Paakea

08/30/2020 Sunday Stay-At-Home Monk Seal Dailies

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island today for a couple of hours and spotted six critters today. 

Seal 1 - weaner size and light coloration, no tags. Based on size and location this could be PO5. It seemed too large and with too light a belly to be PO1 or PO3. Seal was alone on LPB and entered the water about 12:50 pm and was not seen again.

Seal 2 - Unidentified Juvenile Male #1 - hauled out about 12:05 pm a short distance Lanikai of a group of three seals near the 3BS.  New coat, light male belly and two tags.

Seal 3 - RG32 - adult male, older coat, darker mottled male belly, 2 tags and applied N11 bleach. When he was first observed he was in "cruiser male" mode, but then hauled out to seals 4 and 5 near 1BS. He then more or less settled down to snooze.

Seal 4 - PO2/N2 - Nohea.  She hauled out to Seal 5.  She was then visited by RG32 before settling down to sleep. Weaner size, no tags, light yellow belly and applied N2 bleach on lower right side.

Seal 5 - Unidentified Juvenile - new coat, light belly, and 2 tags. Seal was near the 1BS.

Seal 6 - Unidentified Juvenile with an older coat but with about 25% molt on upper belly, 2 tags. . Seal was alone near 3BS.

On the west sdie RG28 Lefty was alone way up on the sand right where people would normally be walking. There were a few people who passed him and he was very aware.  He looks like he may be ready to molt soon.

R3CX Nalu was way out on the edge of the rocks alone today. He was pretty still until some waves kept splashing over him, he finally decided to move more inland. 

That was it for seals on the west side but here is an incredible photo of what is best described as fish out of water. 

RG28 Lefty

R3CX Nalu

A fish out of water !

08/29/2020 Saturday Stay-At-Home Monk Seal Dailies

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island today there were eight critters today and lots of moving around between them. Exciting but challenging. 

Seal 1 - far to the left and back of LPB - juvenile to subadult female, new coat and 2 tags. She had visits from both Seal 5 (UAM) and RG32.

Seal 2 - on LPB - unknown juvenile with older coat, not sure about tags.  Marilyn lost sight of this animal at some point and did not see it again.

Seal 3 - initially up on berm on LPB - juvenile female with new coat, 2 tags. This seal later joined Seal 5, the unknown weaner.

Seal 4 - weaner N2 - Nohea; no tags, juvenile size and N2 applied bleach on lower right side. She

initially was with the unknown adult male and later she joined three other seals on LPB. Then she went into the water with RG32 and they visited Seal 1. Then she disappeared.

Seal 5 - unknown adult male (UAM); older coat, male belly, at least one tag; initially with N2-Nohea. He then visited seal1 and later seals 2 & 3. Then he relocated to SRI where he had a visit from RG32.

Seal 6 - weaner PO1/PO3; small weaner size, no tags and older coat. Marilyn did not see an applied bleach. He was later joined by Seal 3.

Seal 7 - RG32; adult size, older coat, 2 tags, applied N11 bleach. He ultimately interacted with all of the other seals except Seal 6.

Seal 8 - unknown juvenile male, 2 tags, older coat with a fair amount of green and partially molted upper chest area.  If this is the same seal that she saw "molting" last Sunday, the molt has not progressed far.  He was visited twice by RG32.

Other critters seen on Oahu started with R3CX Nalu at water front rocks. He is looking healthy, coat in great condition. He ended up in the pond and then hauled back onto the rocks. There were a couple of divers close by, he seemed aware but undisturbed.

There was another seal bobbing up and down in the inlet. This was RN14 Kalani trying to make his

way up. He went around by Nalu R3CX, they exchanged a few sniffs, a few words and then they both settled and went to sleep.

RG28 Lefty was seen alone at another location. He was looking off at something and ended up diving into the water heading to the left. Well there is another seal.

There is a beautiful 100% molted female seal and its RH36 Kawena. She is looking quite healthy. Lefty decided to join her and she didn't seem to mind. He was quite happy with her. There was some "thought" that Kawena could have been the molting female on Rabbit Island last weekend.

Rabbit Island Critters

R3CX Nalu

RN14 Kalani & Nalu

Kalani RN14

RG28 Lefty

Kawena RH36 and Lefty

Kawena RH36