02/26/2022 (PART 2) Molokai Two Day Update from Team T&D

Team T&D have been hitting the seal jackpot on Molokai. On Friday they documented ten seals. And Saturday they only found two.  Another way to look at it, 12 seals in a weekend, not bad.

They started with the beach close to where they were staying and found two seals. RL04, female who interestingly they met in 2016 at Ka'ena Point. The other is RKB2.

The rest of their day was hiking with a friend looking for seals. They found L6 hidden in the rocks, he always looks like he's smiling. 

Next they watched two seals playing in a tide pool. It was RK94 a male, and RL64 female. The two were playing together for quite awhile. When they were on their way back the two were still there playing in the water.  

Another find was RL38 alone sleeping peacefully on the beach. They were told she is an elusive seal so they were really lucky to see her.

Further down on the beach they found 6FI Noa! And thanks to a shinny white belly they found L3 hidden in some rocks. 

A little further down they found L4 Kepuhinui. 

Lastly a second check of one of the beaches on their way back they found RL80.  Many thanks to Team T&D for sharing and their friend for the hikes and IDs.

Saturday's find was RL04 relaxing on the beach alone. The other seal on a different beach was RKB2. Team T&D saw both these critters on Friday.

L3

L4

L6

R6FI Noa

RK94 and RL64

RL38

RL80

RKB2

RL04

02/22/22 TWOday's Dailies

Todays dailies on the very special 022220 two day Tuesday is brought to you by two teams of two.   (okay I'll stop).  Team T&D are on Molokai sending us updates and Team R&B are here on Oahu with their usual daily update.

Team T&D went to look for seals with a friend on Molokai. All the seal IDs were made as a result of their friend ( as Tammy said got to give credit where credit is due).  Their first find was R6FI who has been seen on Oahu before and nicknamed Noa.  He looked good and happy to know he has been seen again.

Next they found two seal together L2 and RL90 who is Right Spot's kid.

Then there was RL64 who was very helpful by flashing her tags. 

Next they came upon L3 and L6. Both are 2020 pups with a temporary IDs. L6 is noticeably bigger.

A little ways away was L4, and he is nicknamed Kepuhinui. He was named by the children of Molokai immersion school.

Their last find of the day was RI13.  Quite a good seal day on Molokai.

Team R&B started their day once again seeing a seal swimming by. Unfortunately they could not make and ID so it was reported as an unknown adult U/A

Next they found a seal already up on the rocks. It was a while before they could make the ID. Thankfully it moved higher up and they could ID Kekoa Alii RK72.  They stayed for a while educating the folks at the site.  Posse pal Amy would come and relieve them so they could check other sites.

From afar they saw a big seal snoozing on the rocks. They saw that it was Kaale RH32.

Off to the next site they spot a seal in the shallows. It was RW02 snoozing the day away.

They also found Lefty RG28 in the shallows taking a snooze. Guess the boys are taking it easy today.

Hidden away mid rocks was RP84 Pe'ekai.

And then there was Kala RH76 snoozing at seal inlet.

Still at the same west side site they saw a seal swimming coming in fast, it paused to look for a place to haul up. It was RL70 Leina who came into lower rocks. She spotted RW02 it was almost like she was asking if it was okay to land. RW02 looked at her, they were face to face, and RL70 landed on lower rocks.

Well if that wasn't enough there was a sixth seal at the location. To their delight on high rocks was good ole Benny RE74. He is looking chubby and in good health. They hadn't seen him since the beginning of the month.

Their last stop while looking around they spotted folks walking and sitting. Sure enough to the left was RL20 Kalua.  To the right snoozing his heart away was Nalu R3CX. 

As a side note, we all know Team R&B have seen some amazing things on their search for seals. But the last two days have been what I think to be most interesting from one extreme to another. Yesterday they photographed mating monarch butterflies on the beach, and today well they saw a huge goat on a cliff.  

Molokai L2

R6FI

RL64

molokai L3

Molokai L6

RI13

U/A

Kekoa Alii

Kaale 

RW02

Lefty

RP84

Kala

RL70

RL70 and RW02

Benny

RL20

Nalu R3CX

Goat

Butterflies

03/01/2021 Monday Monk Seal Dailies

 

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team T&D, Team R&B and email yesterday from Justin!

In yesterday's news department an email from old pal Justin T. brought news from his hike out to Ka'ena point on Sunday.  He saw four seal between 2:30 and 5:30 pm. It wasn't easy to get IDs as the seals were not cooperating. There were two seals in Ka'ena's pool. One had an old CC scar and one with two tags that he couldn't read. There was one smaller size with 2 tags and a very fresh cookie cutter wound.  He believed this to be RL74 Kami.  Then lastly there was a critter at 10 minute beach. There were no flipper tags visible or obvious bleach marks or scars, just  some light color variation on her back left side. Justin thinks this may be RL98 Lina

Team T&D still on their Molokai adventure. They hiked La'au again today and saw three seals. Their

first find was RL68, then RL90. The big excitement for them today was finding R6FI, this was their first time seeing him but found out he was tagged on Oahu and then made his way to Moloka'i.  I know Team R&B was thrilled to hear of his sighting and when they met him here on Oahu they called him Noa.  Thank you Team T&D for sharing your Molokai adventure with us.

Team R&B was at the outfall at 7 am this morning. The Akule boat was out there and so were the seals. They spotted Kaale RH32, Kekoa RK72, RN14 Kalani and R407 Kawika all in the net at one time or another. They called the hotline to report.  Team R&B saw a NOAA's Maddie arrive so they filled her in on what was going. Volunteer Melina arrived and they were also surprised to see someone from the DLNR.  

All the proper authorities were there to deal with what could be a bad situation. Team R&B could only standby and hope for the best, while trying not to have a heart-attack.

After several hours at the outfall they headed over to another west side location. When they arrived they saw three seals snuggled together on high mid rocks.  RW02 PvKauai, RH76 Kala and R3CX Nalu.

What a nerve racking day.!

Seal at 10 minute beach

Ka'ena's pool

young seal at the runway

cookie cutter wound

Molokai R6FI (Noa)

RL90

RL68

Kaale 

Kekoa

R407 Kawika

RN14 Kalani

Three seals

RN14 popping a plastic bag

Nalu R3CX

Kala RH76

RW02 PvKauai

The three resting peacefully Nalu, Kala and PvKauai