07/17/2022 Sunday's Dailies

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

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 1:25 to 3:15 and there were seven seals on Island today. 

In the middle of LPB were RL12 Aukai and her female pup PO7. Marilyn got a good look at the chubby pup's belly for the first time today. She suspects RL12 will wean the pup in the next few days.

Just as Marilyn was setting up she saw weaner RQ76 with another

juvenile seal among the waterfront rocks near 1BS. They seemed to "play" for a few minutes and then RQ76 hauled out and the other seal disappeared. RQ76 then moved a short distance up the beach and went into snooze mode.

Marilyn kept looking to see if the juvenile seal would haul out anywhere. It wasn't until 2:35 she spotted an Unknown Juvenile haul out on the waterfront rocks of Middle Cliff.  U/J: juvenile size and two red tags. 

On the beach between Middle Cliff and 3BS were two seals:

A/F: adult to subadult size, female belly and two red tags. This seal has just started molting on her upper chest no more than 5%.

The next seal was the find of the day. A subadult male with two red tags, when he showed his left side there was an upside N47 applied bleach on his left shoulder. This is RL47 Kamakana, Sadie's RB12 pup from 5/20/2019.  He has been seen around Oahu, but Marilyn hasn't seen him since he left Rabbit Island in 2019.  And this is why we love when NOAA can apply the bleach numbers.

On the Makapuu side of 3BS was RK37 Huia. She was not initially on the beach when Marilyn first arrived. RK37 hauled out about 1:40.

Team R&B started their day at a west side location and made the walk out in spite of the huge waves. There was a lot of debris washing up from the swell. But they were thrilled to find RP30 Puka.  Poor kid was in the water with all kinds of things touching him, wood, slippers, etc. He seemed very upset by all the the stuff around him.

Next stop they started viewing a seal from afar and saw people at the seal moving around. They wanted to make their way out there to make sure the seal wasn't being disturbed.  When they got closer, they got a glimpse of a seal rolling in the sand, it was a male with red tags. They were surprised and thrilled to see it was Kainoa RN04.

There was fish in front of him, someone trying to be nice? Or maybe they washed up? Either way he didn't eat them.  The fish were valehu which dolphins eat.

Suddenly they saw lots of dolphins all at once. They were leaping and having a good old time.

They ended their day at Makua Beach and saw a seal on shore in spite of all the people next to it. This was the lovely RL42 Leia. She is about 85% molted and looking great. They were surprised and grateful to see her.

Rabbit Island

RP30 Puka

Kainoa N04

RL42 Leia Molting

dolphins