MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: 11/17/2021 Wednesday Monk Seal Dailies

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

11/17/2021 Wednesday Monk Seal Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Marilyn and Team R&B💕

Marilyn was out this morning and stopped at one of the east side sites between 9:30 and 10:30. She first saw a monk seal when she was pointing out turtles to some visitors. As she got ready with camera and watched, she ID'd RK24 Bruno/Wawamalu doing about 8 minute dives. He was ID'd by his juvenile-subadult size, LRF K24, chin scar left of midline and scars on the left side of his head.

Marilyn's next stop was at the pier where she viewed Rabbit Island from 11:30 to 12:50. There was

only one seal during her viewing session today.

This was the molting A/M (adult male) that she has been seeing regularly over the past several weeks. He was about 50 ft Lanikai side of the 1BS. His molt is about 90% complete. He had one fur patch in front of his right shoulder when she started viewing, but it was shed during his many movements in the sand. He still had his old fur on the back 1/3 of his dorsal surface.

Team R&B started out at the bay and spotted non other than RH32 Kaale. For some reason he left the area. Then they saw him coming back and he landed. There were some folks chanting which seemed to spook Kaale and he took off. Lastly Kaale returned and landed again and this time stayed on the rocks. Hopefully he'll be able to settle in and get some undisturbed rest.

While they were keeping an eye on Kaale, they spotted two seals off the jetty near some paddle boarders, two ladies taking video. Nalu R3CX and Lei Ola RH48 were out there foraging. Team R&B had to leave. Of course they returned to check and both R3CX and Lei Ola were still there. This time they had hauled out on the rocks resting with Kaale and RH76 Kala to the left.

Kala had been foraging and when she got her fill, she hauled out on the rocks to the left of Kaale.

Team R&B made a quick check on the seals at tracks and there was only one. R407 Kawika was alone

with lots of footprints around him There were fresh wallows near him but no seal. Seems someone was out there close to the seals. Kawika's molt is about 20%, lets hope the rest goes fast and he leaves the area.

At another location they found RN14 Kalani snoozing alone on the rocks. Looks like the boys have split apart from hanging out together.

Stopping at another west side beach they found their beloved Benny RE74. His molt is going very fast surprisingly. The three signs were still up around him.

Team R&B's last seal of the day was the beautiful RL42 Leia who was resting on the rocks. They didn't want to draw any attention to her so they took a couple of photos and left.

RK24