4/9/2018 Monk Seal Dailies: (part 1)

Today's dailies are brought to you by Lesley, Team Billand and Gayle. Lesley's full report is part 2 of the dailies.

Team Billand received a call from surfer friend Rich at 7:10 am. They were close by so they were able to make a quick stop at White Plains. To their happiness and joy there before them was Pohaku RO28. She looks great, fat and resting on shore. They put up a zone and called the hotline and informed them Pohaku was back on the leeward side. Team Billand went back in the afternoon around 3:30 to check. They were informed by the lifeguards a second seal had arrived and left at 12:30, didn't stay long, so no way of knowing which critter made an appearance.

The next stop to a West Side Beach they found Ka'ale RH32 (butt head) snoozing alone on the rocks. Team Billand didn't stay long as there were some folks in the area having an argument.

Team Billand's next find was Kekoa RK72, he was high up on the inside. He remained there resting. (Barbara - his picture was missing from the email)

As they headed further west they found brave sweet little Lei Ola RH48 sleeping alone. Her position she was in a position in which her hook was not visible.

On a interesting but completely different note Team Billand noticed boats and big orange floaters at Makua Beach. Based on last evenings news the beach was blocked off and they were checking for explosive ordinances reported by some people.

I spoke with Gayle earlier today and she informed me she was with an Unknown Female. Based on the critters position she could not see the tags and it actually took a while to determine if it was a female. Gayle commented the seal was huge. So when this evenings mail arrived I spent time looking carefully and spotted the scar on the forehead .... I thought of Aukai of course.... but no leave it to Team Billand to come through with some old photos to compare. This unknown appears to be BG R303/ N32   (wonder if this is the same critter from Vicki's photos the other day).

Gayle did take a shot of Rabbit Island, but it's inconclusive if we are looking at Mom, another seal, or a rock. 

 Pohaku

 Kekoa

 Lei Ola

 Divers searching  

 Whales

UF - BG?

scar on lip

 scar on forhead

Photos of BG from June 2017

 Rabbit Island.... I don't know Gayle 

 Couldn't resist look at this little cute sparrow.

04/06/2018 Monk Seal Dailies: (part 1)

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, Tammy of Team T&D, Lesley and posse pals Gayle and Vicki too.  Lesley's Ka'ena Point update is part 2 of the dailies.

Gayle was skunked AGAIN today (sorry Gayle). She did get a call from posse pal Vicki at 19:20 (too dark to head out). Vicki saw a seal at Kaupo, and Vicki thought it might be Right Spot. Vicki mentioned the seal might have some CC scars, so this leaves the possibilities open.  I am including Vicki's photos and I'm not sure what kind of scar this might be, at first I thought maybe a bleach or a mark from a transmitter, but I just don't know.  (SO my expert seal sleuths HELP!)

Tammy made her trek out to Ka'ena Point solo today. When she first arrived there were no seals, and then a rain squall came through and she ducked for cover. When the rain stopped she check back beach where she found RW02 PvKauai. It took a bit to get an ID since he looked like shake and back and tags were not showing.

On her way back to the main pool she spotted a seal swimming in. R3CU came in like he was on a mission, barking, grunting and making that guttural noise and if that wasn't enough he was flipper slapping the water. He certainly knows how to make an entrance. 
There were not other seals around, he continued this behavior for about an hour and then he finally settled down and went to sleep. Of course he wore himself out, what a character.

Lastly Tammy's walk out was cold and wet even the poor chickie was wet with water dripping of its beak. As it started to clear, there up in the sky a double rainbow her gift for dealing with the crappy weather.  Tammy also came across the pheasant Lesley saw yesterday, guess he'll be part of the cast of critters.

It's 5:30 am do you know where Team Billand is?  Yes I do, they're at Paradise Cove with Benny RE74. Benny was to the left of the lagoon this morning, so they put up a zone. They called the hotline to report Benny and his location.  The crowds were starting to arrive and Benny was well aware there wan an audience. At 7:23 he took off, swam in the lagoon, foraged a bit and then left for the day. Team Billand put everything aware and reported back that Benny had left the lagoon.

Next stop was to a Leeward Beach where RIP RR70 hauled out after foraging for a bit. While foraging he had some company from snorkeling folks from one of the cruise boats. Once RIP landed he stayed on the rocks for the entire day snoozing.


Team Billand decided to hike a bit to Ka'ena Point via west side, after about 30 minutes in they found Ka'ena RO40 asleep on the rocks well hidden.

Team Billand did another check on RIP and he was still there, except now there was another critter to the right of RIP.  Slightly green and sleeping soundly it wasn't until he finally moved they were able to ID RH32 Ka'ale.

UU - distinct marking but from what?

 who are you? 

RW02 PvKauai

R3CU

 R3CU flipping off with two flippers

Soggy Chickie

 double rainbow

Benny

RIP

Ka'ena 

Ka'ale