05/13/2021 (part 2) Lesley's Ka'ena Update

Lesley's update from Tuesday: 

Yesterday was a busy long day, added to that I sighted and documented 10 HMSeals

The day started with RL42 Leia and RG28 Lefty on a beach. The boy PESTERED mom up and down the beach in and out of the water. Finally at sunset he listened to her and got lost. Also RE74 Benny had showed up in the late afternoon and wasn't welcome.

Back mid morning I spotted RN58 Luana on a reef being splashed by waves. When I checked again in the afternoon she was no longer there.

RL98 Lina was sleeping peacefully on a reef

Further RJ40 (F) and RO40 Ka'ena were hauled out side by side. Then RL74 Kami and R407 Kawika were side by side and had a flash visit by RN04 Kainoa that wasn't welcome by Kawika and left as fast as his flippers could take him

More soon - Be Safe 

Lesley's Video from Wednesday and there is BIG NEWS! May 12, 2021 - Make sure you view full screen!

Aloha ! Yesterday, after several days on the standby we got to witness RL42 Leia give birth to P03. 
Young Elena Wheeler, Lisa's daughter and Kelsey's sister was sitting patiently beside me among other people. She was using binoculars and we were going over what we would see in a birth. She called it twice, first correctly when the volume around the flipper area/lower back got bigger and shortly after she asked me is it was happening and sure enough it was. We saw the sac come out slowly and in a blink of the eyes the sac burst, and pup came out.
Elena suggested the nickname of "Puka" we talked it over with others around us yesterday and today. We all agreed that "Puka" was a cool nickname and that's how we will call it. "It" because we still don't know the sex, but the nickname chosen will go for female or male. 
The important thing to keep in mind is when a seal is sighted for identification purposes what is used to report it is its cohort for now it's P03 for 2021 it means Pup-zero-three until it's permanent ID is given when tagged. Hopefully in 2022 we'll go back to PO# (Pup Oahu #)
More soon - Be Safe 

photos from Tuesday

March 8, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Team Billand and Lesley. Lesley's Ka'ena update is part 2 of the dailies.

Team Billand made their usual check at a popular west side beach. When they arrived they found RIP RR70 playing with Kawena RH32 in the water. This went on for quite some time and then finally came in to haul out. Kawena hauled up first then RIP came up next to her. They were hanging out side by side all day.  Pretty sweet.


While at the site Team Billand watched as multiple seals were off shore, frolicking and fighting for hours. It made it a challenge to ID, but that didn't stop Team Billand, they started with Kekoa Alii RK72 with Lei Ola RH48. They were at it for many hours, ending in the cove and hauled out.
Lei Ola came in first followed closely by Kekoa. He was for sure after her being a male with a mission. Barb felt so bad for her she wanted to fly her slippa at him to knock it off.  Hahahhaa typical "Momma Bear" response.

Next RN14 Kalani was seen arriving from the Waianae side, he came in fast into lower rocks, looked then left. He then went around to land with Kekoa to his right.

Team Billand decided to do the Ka'ena west trek. They only found RL42 Leia at the 30. She was in a spot where they had not seen her before. Maybe she's hiding out from the boys. She is looking quite large and healthy.

Returning to the westside beach there are now six seals, last one to arrive turns out to be Kaale RH32.  He was with Lei Ola who got washed about by a large wave. The two seals came back up. Unfortunately there were a couple of fishermen there that decided to take some photos using their cell phones and taunting the seals to get a "picture"  Ka'ale was responding by barking at them, then RN14 leaped at one of the men.   Shame Shame.
All the males took off and only Lei Ola and Kawena remained. Too bad these guys came along to ruin the group of critters hanging out.

Kawena RH32

 RIP

 Kawena and RIP 

Kekoa and Lei Ola

 Lei Ola 

RN14 and Kekoa

 Kalani RN14

RL42 Leia

Ka'ale & Lei Ola

6/21/2018 Monk Seal Dailies:

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand and Lesley. Also I have an update and correction from my Rabbit Island observations from yesterday.

First with my update and correction. The large seal who I thought was an adult turned out to be RG32 and had an N32 bleach.  I thought I saw a bleach number which looked like an upside down 2. The critter to his left was AKA who received a N5 bleach number. RG32 is a 3 year old male and Aka was born on Rabbit Island last year.  The little one to the right of the two of them is weaner RK38 Hali'a.  ( At least I had Sadie & PO6 correct). 

Team Billand was out at 5:50 when the got to the beach on the West Side and spot a seal on the shore by some canoes. There was Pohaku RO28 alone snoozing on shore. They called the hotline and left a message. They did get a call back saying a volunteer would come out.  Team Billand stayed for a while but they had no signs. They went to check on other areas and would return to check on her.

They returned at 8 am and she was still there a little closer to the water and there were foot prints close to her. They stayed for another hour and left for the day. It is unknown if a volunteer arrived, as there were no signs posted. Pohaku is getting pretty big, hope she leaves for Kauai soon.

Team Billand went from Campbells to Ka'ena West lots of walking but no seals.

Here's Lesley's complete update:

Another beautiful day in Hawaii Nei. Started checking the PlayPen. PO5 "Napua" (F) D48 was hauled out at the base of the cliff that's were I saw her on all my other checks today. PO4 "Puna" (M) D54 was in the water playing with whatever he could find to throw around or dive after. When left he was still in the water. 

I stopped several times on my way out to the point to make some outreach with fishermen already set for the big 3 day fishing tournament. At 10Mnts Beach, one of my Birth Beach posse Jerome came by to say hello. He's participating in the tournament and will be my eyes at 10Mnts Beach over the weekend. That's really cool because seals having hauling out there. 

At Hidden Beach, from the corner of my eye, I saw a rock moving. Went down to check and found RO40 "Ka'ena" and RN30 (M) in the water having a discussion. RN30 didn't want anything to do with "Ka'ena" and this one was being a master bully. They had some words, moved around and finally RN30 left followed by "Ka'ena" 

Team Tammy & Dave caught up with me there. They went on hiking and doing outreach. We met again at the point were we were skunked, so we decided to go and hike the West side. We didn't see any seals but enjoyed our hike celebrating the Solstice. Back at the Pt we found RW02 "PVKauai" hauled out o the reefs in the Main Pool. 


We stopped to check 10 Mnts and were driving past when Tammy spotted a seal. It was RN30 hauling out on the flat reefs towards 5Mnts. Right beside Jerome's campsite we took photos and documented him. We left knowing he has good guarding angels looking over him. 

Back at the PlayPen PO5 "Napua" was still sleeping and PO4 "Puna" was hauled out surrounded by rocks beside RO40 "Ka'ena" I checked before sunset and the three were still

there. 

The albatross were all quiet when we first arrived at the NARS on our way back the wind had picked up and some of them were stretching their wings. I saw several tropical birds, actually heard them before seeing them they nearly sound like parrots (but don't tell them) Aloha 🌺

Pohaku RO28

Playpen 

RN30 

 Ka'ena RO40 and PO4 Puna

 Ka'ena RO40 and RN30

 RW02 PvKauai