05/25/2021 Tuesday Monk Seal Dailes

Today's dailies are brought to you by Melody, Team R&B and yours truly.

Diane and I went to observe Rabbit Island this morning and a NOAA Team went out to the island to tag and or bleach any critters on site.  It was a bright sunny morning which made for a lot of glare. Our first sighting was a U/F sub-adult to adult size, female belly, older brown coat with some green and two tags.  My initial view she looked smaller but when she rolled on her side it was clear she was bigger then the juveniles.  NOAA Team approached and photographed her but she decided to leave shortly after so there was no bleach applied. (bummer)

Aukai RL12 and P04 were barely visible at RRB on the rock flats. We had a glimpse of them until the

completely out of sight behind the rocks. Later they moved on to the sand and we could get a good look at both of them resting.

Mark texted the weaner was on the rocks, truth be told it could have been there all along with it's white belly blending in with the rocks. NOAA confirmed P01 is a female! She soon moved up the beach and the NOAA team approached and tagged her with RP24. Her natural bleach on her LFF was barely visible with her new coat but at least she has tags and one known marker.

Team R&B did there usual searches and came up empty so they decided to head out to Ka'ena West. They started out at 8:20 and it was already scorching hot. They were out for a few hours and finally spotted people checking something out. They hurried over and there was Kekoa Alii RK72. He was alone on the rocks and looking healthy.  He would leave and come back to another spot looking wide eyed and checking out the area. Poor guy probably looking for Lei Ola.  Team R&B hung out waiting and hoping another seal would be found, but no such luck. Rob did see one seal coming by but did not get any photos and by the time Barb got there the seal was gone.  That was it for Team R&B, they left and went to cool off.

Melody spent another day with Kaiwi and P02 (Loli'l). Pup is growing and Mom is getting smaller. In

certain positions its hard to tell who is who. P02's fur is changing, belly is getting reddish brown and will soon turn to silver/white. P02 spends time amusing himself with organic matter from the beach, leaves to play with. He seems to keep himself busy when Mom isn't near him.  

They had a couple of rough water swims today as the tide got high. P02 did okay, but he still needs some work. He has more fun rolling down the hill to get to the water. Mama Kaiwi barked a lot while he was getting pulling in and out of the surf. Maybe she's yelling at him, maybe she's giving him instructions. Who knows but she is patient with him and he figures it out.  (Tomorrow Melody going to send us some video :-) 

U/F and NOAA

Aukai and P04

P01  RP24

Kekoa Alii

Kaiwi and P02

those eyes!