February 7, 2024 Wednesday's Dailies

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

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 11:59 to 1:52 and there were five seals seen during that time.

Out on the rock flats Lanikai side of LPB was a seal that Marilyn believes to be RP24 Mohala: sub-adult size, tannish-yellow female belly, two red tags and a nb on her LFF. She looks big for a "P" cohort.

Initially Marilyn did not see this seal until it was approached by a SM, there was an Unknown Adult 1: seal behind waterfront rocks at the LPB surge channel: adult size, darker dorsal, not sure about tags or sex. During one flipper flex Marilyn noted a scar on the right rear side, so this could be RK24.

Initially up in the dune cave near 1BS was a Sub-adult Male: sub-adult size, light yellow male belly, not sure about tags, a possible scar on the mid right side. 

At 1:17 pm Unknown Adult 2 hauled out between Middle Cliff and 3BS: adult size, not sure about tags or sex.

Out on RRB behind waterfront rocks of the RRB channel was an Unknown Unknown: unknown size, light gray belly, not sure about tags or sex. The UU stayed in basically the same position during the 2 hour viewing session.

Team R&B did their routine checks and only found two seals today.  At least it was better than yesterday.

First they saw RH76 Kala. She was in a spot that she rarely has gone to, maybe she needed a change of scenery.  She was pretty high up and Team R&B wondered why she was there and then they realized why.

They spotted RH32 Kaale coming in, he passed by her not knowing she was there. He went to the "zen" spot where she normally goes.  He went all the way to the left and landed at the zen garden. He was vocal, he moved up a bit and went to sleep.  Seems a little sad Kala wasn't there for him to find.

In other news, here is the link to UH's Marine Mammal Research Program. The Secret life of seals: Exploring the underwater acoustic behavior of Hawaiian monk seals with biologging tags.  Worth the read and yes this is about R330 and RK72.

https://www.mmrphawaii.org/post/secret-life-of-seals-exploring-the-underwater-acoustic-behavior-of-hawaiian-monk-seals-with-biologg

Rabbit Island

RH76

RH32

February 6, 2024 Tuesday's Dailies

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

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 12:50 to 2:00 and there were six seals during that time.

Initially on the Lanikai side of LPB near water front rocks was an Unknown Adult: adult to sub-adult size, very light ventral and unsure about tags.

Initially up in the dunes near 1BS was Adult Female 1: adult to sub-adult size, with tannish yellow female belly, not sure about tags. She galumphed down to the UA and they spent the rest of the time next to each other. 

Initially alone near 3BS was Adult Female 2: adult size, tannish gray female belly and two red tags. She was soon joined by RK24 Bruno/Wawamalu.

RK24 was ID'd by his mottled lighter gray male belly, two red tags and scar on his right rear side. He pestered AF2 and she wasn't happy. RK24 and AF2 moved down the beach and entered the water about 1:40 pm.

RK24 was initially with two other seals between 3BS and SRI:

Sub-adult Female: smaller sub-adult size, light female belly and two red tags.

Juvenile Female: juvenile size, older coat, yellowish female belly and two red tags.

Team R&B got skunked today. They were out there searching but just didn't find any seals. There were lots of walking and checking from yoks to plains.

But not all was lost, they got see lots of whales. The humpbacks were out and putting on a show.

There were two pods, one was a companion pod, where there were more than four whales trying to get lucky.

Other pod was a cow, calf and escort, Mama, baby and dude.

There were lots of spouts, head lunges and fluke up dives. They did see breaching as well as the famous humpback arch.

Rabbit Island

Whales

February 5, 2024 Monday's Dailies

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

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 1:05 to 2:45 and there were seven seals during that time.

Initially in a group of three near the 1BS:

Unknown Adult 1: adult size, lighter ventral, unsure about sex, and unsure about tags. UA1 galumphed to the dune and spent time in a small cave just Lanikai side of the 1BS. UA1 later moved back down onto the beach.

Unknown Adult 2: large adult size, dark coat, unsure about sex or

tags.

Unknown Sub-adult: sub-adult size, light ventral, two tags and Marilyn suspects this is a female but could not confirm.

The UA2 and US moved over near the LPB surge channel, then the US apparently moved back closer to the 1BS.

There was another group of three seals on the beach near the 3BS:

Sub-Adult Female: sub-adult size, light female belly, unsure about tags.

Unknown Juvenile: juvenile size, older coat, two red tags, unsure about sex

Adult Male: adult size, mottle gray ventral, male belly, unsure about tags.

Between 3BS and SRI was an Adult Female: adult size, light tannish yellow female belly; not sure about tags. This seal moved up into the dunes for about an hour and then moved back down on the beach.

After leaving the pier Marilyn checked a few spots on her way home. 

From the blowhole she could see an SRA at Sandy Beach. She went to check it out and Gamma Gayle was there monitoring the SRA.

The seal turned out to be a Kauai Female RL28/L33. This is the first time Marilyn has seen this seal, she's small sub-adult size with tan female belly and her non-sequential tags. She has a major scar forward of her rear flippers. She has a superficial CC scar on her chest near her LFF. This girl was born in 2019 to Mama KC RK28.

Team R&B first stop at the bay, they found Miss Kala RH76.  She was alone, well the only seal. She did have company, a guy who loves to get too close and personal taking photos with his cell phone.

Next they headed off to Nimitz where they found Kawika R407. He was in his special spot alone and snoozing peacefully.  

There was a guy and his daughter walking his dog. Team R&B  asked them to keep their distance from the seal, and the guy had an incredibly crude and rude response. Thankfully in the end they didn't go near R407.  Talking with them the daughter mentioned they were looking for sea glass, so what did Team R&B do, they gave the kid a bag of sea glass.  The dad was especially surprised since he had been so rude.  Well sir maybe a little aloha will make you a better person the next time around.

At their next stop they were looking around, no whales, no dolphins and they did see one turtle. After

45 minutes or so they noticed a seal on the rocks. It was RH32 Kaale, who then entered the pond. He rolled about for a bit and then left heading in a westerly direction.

Last stop at the cliffs, they spotted a seal who was hidden in the rocks. It took them quite awhile to get a tag shot. Finally they see the number 44, and didn't recognize it. They waited to get more information and finally realized it was Lefty RG28 with his new tag G44.  Thankfully he had moved so they could see all of him.

Rabbit Island

RL28 

RH76

R407

RH32

RG28 G44