07/12/2022 Marilyn's Rabbit Island Update (Tuesday's Dailies part 2)

It was a good day. A NOAA team (Tracy, Brenda, Hope and Mark) made it to Rabbit Island to tag PO6. I viewed RI from Makai Pier from about 9 am to 12 pm. The morning glare made taking photos challenging. Plus the camera ran out of battery just as the team was ready to tag PO6. Many of my photos were very blurry, so there may be a camera problem as well.

Reporting the day is challenging because one seal visited most of the others and there was a lot of moving around.

The most important news is that PO6 is a female and received her bling, Q76 and Q77, so she is

officially RQ76. It took a while for the team to be able to tag her because she first hauled out on the Lanikai side of LPB and then went into the water with an adult male, RG32. Then later she was in the waterline just in front of MO7-PO7 before hauling out to the 1BS side of LPB where she got her bling.

The next news is the confirmation that MO7 is RL12 Aukai. We thought that was the case, but it was nice to have it confirmed. NOAA thinks PO7 is a female and she got a N1 bleach on her back and an orange Allflex tag with the number 72. PO7 went into the water soon after being bleached so we will have to see if the bleach took.

There were three other HMS on RI and it was nice to get some IDs.

Near the 3BS behind and on waterfront rocks was RK37 Huia, a molting subadult female. I'd say her molt is about 60%. She was visited by an adult male, RG32, who was born on Molokai in 2015.

After leaving RK37, RG32 went and visited RK24 Wawamalu/Bruno who was located between 3BS and SRI.

Thank you NOAA for your work and information.

Rabbit Island