DB Post Monday November 17th

RIP@RI, Rocky&Buster@SC, Irma&Kermit@White Plains, 11-17-08
It was a pretty crappy day in the SE quadrant, weatherwise, but a good Monk Seal day. I found Rocky and Buster at Spitting Cave, and remained there with them from 0739 until 1030. This was a straight foraging sighting. Though they were together, I never observed any interaction on the surface. Buster always maintained a respectful 10 - 15 ft distance. Most of the up's were individual, but there were several up's with both on the surface at the same time.

When I got back to MP to check Rabbit Island at 1115, I found RIP on the beach at the left end. He had the place all to himself.

Team Billand checked in at 1019 reporting Irma and Kermit at White Plains. Aloha, DB

DB Post Sunday November 16th

RIP&RB08@RI, Irma@WP, Kermit@Ko Olina, 11-16-08
My first born son, RIP made an appearance at Rabbit Island today. I'd last seen him on 11-1-08. He spent the day by himself at 3BS.

Today I could confirm RB08 at the left end of the island. She began the day tucked into the base of the cliff, and moved down and then back up during the course of her day. Her "RBOB Scoot" was apparent.

Team Billand checked in at 0858 with the report of Irma at WP, again. She appears to be approximately 40% molted.

The Billands checked in again at 1235 with the report of Kermit at Ko Olina (Lagoon #1). Aloha, DB

3 Seals and The Billand Duo

This post was sent to me on Friday evening, this is the first chance I had to post all the photos... Rob and Barb take some great shots and its really hard to choose, so I put as many as I could....

Good Evening Blog Momma,
Well, this morning we went for a search and to our delight found Irma alone and progressing in her molting. She is so goofy right now and beach goers are shocked at her appearence. This session with beach goers is an educational one and folks are talking more of how great this show is. One morning two seals are battling on and in the water...That would be Benny and Kermit. Trying to look good for Miss Irma...both guys wanting her real bad. Well, its as if she has PMS and both boys understand that but...keep trying to persuade her to join them. All she does is give....DA LOOK!!! Both boys go away and sulk. As we watched Irma we noticed a second seal in the water and it turns out to be MR. Benny coming in shore so swiftly in the surf. As he gets to land, he stretches his neck high right and left looking for that hot chick...Irma. He crosses the barrier, enters the seal zone, snorts to Irma as if saying..."PST!! Hey Irma, do you wanna today?" He even scoots all the way to her side as if she 'll change her mind any second. NOPE!! She don't. So off Benny went back to sea, surfing and checking out the chick on the board. It was cute to watch him with all the surfers and they checked him out also. Everyone is getting more and more involved with these three seals out at White Plains. They are enjoying the show and we keep telling them all kinds of info and show them pics of these great mammals. We also found Kermit, all alone at Windsock, moping. Benny has won Irma's attention today...AGAIN! He even had a few scratches we noticed...new ones, and pinkish looking. Even the Janitor is learning all about the seals out there. He even scolds the creeps that bother the seals, another seal angel out there keeping an eye out for Irma, Kermit and Benny. Here are the latest shots of the kids...The Hawaiian Monk Seals being themselves before our eyes. Nature is so Amazing!!!!!!!

DB Post Saturday November 15th

U/F@RI, Irma@WP, Kermit@Maili, 11-15-08
The only Rabbit Island resident today was the same small, red tagged, new coated female from yesterday, who spent all day at the left end of the island. I could rule out RB08, but that is all. My buck is still on Sadie, but ????????

Team Billand put in a routine Team Billand day, with Irma at White Plains, and then later found Kermit at Maili. Aloha, DB

DB Post Friday November 14th

Mojo&U/F (sml)@RI, Irma@WP, Kermit@Kalaeloa, 11-14-08
I was dodging rain squalls just like everybody else, in the morning. It turned out to be a pretty afternoon. I found Mojo at the left end of the middle cliff on RI. I'd last seen my #2 son on 11-6-08. Once I got some sun, his natural bleach on the top , left side of his head was clearly visible, though the shots don't show it.

At 1126, on a routine pan, I suddenly saw a little animal crawling out of a depression 40 ft right of the 3BS. It would turn out to be a small, red tagged , female, with a new coat. Her galumph ruled out RB08, and my Monachus gene tell me it was no doubt Sadie, but science just doesn't believe my Monachus gene, and with Rosie known to be on this side, I have to go with an U/F finding. (My dollar is still on Sadie)

Team Billand checked in at 0650 with what has become the daily Irma report of White Plains. Her molt continues.

They checked in again at 0850 to report that Kermit was just hauling out to the Wind Sock at Kalaeloa Beach.

Colleen called at 1652 to report Rocky near the "graffitti bunker" at Diamond Head. Aloha, DB

A Volunteers Worse Nightmare!

Below is an example of what Barb & Rob dealt with on Tuesday (veterans day) at the beach. They had 3 seals ( 1 molting ) and this crowd. As Barb mentions most were respectful but for the few that weren't well its a challenge. I applaud them for doing all the right things, calling NOAA, calling the base police, etc.

I wanted to put this out for two reasons... First as volunteers... we are powerless over this type of crowd... the best we can do is try to get people to understand and keep the animals safe... and to call the authorities, do not handle this on your own... Secondly, as the population on the main Hawaiian Island grows, there needs to be the proper authorities in place that will do something... It is unacceptable there was this situation with 3 seals and no officials were there to help with crowd control. okay my nickels worth ~donna~

Here are a few photos of the seals Benny, Irma, and Kermit who hauled up on White Plains Beach. We did the best we could trying to keep people out of the zone area with the 3 seals. Most people were good, but there were some who just didn't respect our wishes. The last straw was when some one threw a football from the water area where Irma and Benny were resting. The football hit poor Benny right in the head and he was startled, turned quickly to face his enemy. We didn't know which creep did it. Called out Base Police, they came, warned the folks to stay back but as soon as they would move away, the people would move up again. We were shocked at the people and how the seals just continued to stay in the same spot. You could see the stress in Irmas face.

DB Post Thursday November 13th

I found Ewa Girl for the 3rd consecutive day at her Hanauma Bay hangout, and she was the sum total of the action in the SE quadrant.
Fortunately, Team Billand provided all the excitement by reporting Irma and Kermit at White Plains. Irma's molt continues, but I have no photos at this writing.
Speaking of photos, I did receive an addition photo of Rose (RO30) from Laura, taken on 11-8-08.
As I was typing , Diamond Head posse person , Colleen called to say that Rocky is cruisin' on the beach, near her house.

New Pup on Kauai.... Awwww

No this isn't what it looks like.. this pup is mouthing a piece of plastic debris (unfortunately) and not regurgitating his breakfast.

This little cutey was born about 3-4 days ago on Kauai. Photos were taken by a volunteer on Kauai and sent to me via Tracey from NOAA. How cool is it to see these great shots. Thank you for sharing!

Kaena Point - POSSIBLY Kerby

In doing by analyst's job here at the Monk Seal CIA, I came across some photos on the Flickr site, of an animal at Ka'ena Point, taken on 10-4-08. Armed with absolutely no proof whatsoever, my Monachus gene tells be this may very well be Kerby. This puts him at KP a full 2 weeks prior to Team Billand seeing him on the count day 10-18-08. Don't bother to try to download the shots.........I've already tried. Aloha, DB

Rosie is Everywhere!!

Rosie (RO30)@MCBH, 11-8-08
I got a call from Laura Nakanelua the other day, reporting that she and her husband Kelsey had seen an animal behind their cottage on the Marine Base in Kanehoe. I got their shots this morning, and though I was hoping for Kolohe, I got a equally pleasant surprise to see that it was in fact Rosie (RO30) that was parked behind their cottage , on Saturday, 11-8-08. If you enlarge the attached photo enough, you can clearly see her O31 tag.

For those of you who are not already aware of Rosie, she is a little 2 1/2 year old female from Kalaupapa , Molokai, that his been visiting Oahu since 5-11-08, and has been seen literally all around Oahu, and has even done 2 Kauai trips, plus returns to Molokai. For a little girl she definitely gets around

DB Post Wednesday November 12th

M&M@RI, Ewa Girl@HB, Irma,Kermit&Benny@WP, 11-12-08
After her journey from Campbell's I thought Ewa Girl might pull a coupla' overnighters, and sure enough she was waiting for me on her left side rock flats perch at Hanauma Bay when I checked at 0615.

M&M , once again had Rabbit Island all to herself today. When I left for an afternoon commitment at 1200, she was still there. It was too dark for a check on my way home at 1900.

The Billands checked in at 0858 with the White Plains , Irma report. I called the White Plains lifeguards at 1536 for an update, and they advised that there were now 3 animals there. Team Billand confirmed Irma,Benny & Kermit at 1640. Irma has definitely begun her molt. I would guesstimate 1% . Aloha, DB

DB Post Tuesday November 11th

M&M@RI, Kermit,Irma&Benny@WP, 11-11-08
M&M was my only animal today. She was waiting for me at 0940 when I got back to the pier for the second time. She had the place all to herself, today.

The Billands, once again, provided all the excitement today. Barbara called at 0720 to report 2AW at Zablan Beach, in Nanakuli. She called back at 1309 to say that 2AW had been run off.

Team Billand called again at 0800 to report Irma and Kermit, both to the left of the main lifeguard stand at White Plains, but in separate locations. At 1330 they called again to report that Benny had hauled out to join Irma. It sounded like it was an absolute zoo out there today, with wall to wall people, some of which were not the least bit interested in staying outside the cordon. The Billands contacted Base Police for back up in the afternoon.

DB Post Tuesday November 11th Part 2

Tues. 11-11-08, Part Deux
Microseconds after hitting the "send" key for the 11-11-08 dailies, Hanauma Bay posse person Ann, called at 1513 to report that HB lifeguard Posse Person , Joy had reported an animal just hauling at at 1511 to the left side rock flats. When I got down there I found that Ewa Girl (1540) was home. Ewa Girl was last at Hanauma Bay on 10-11-08. Since then either the Billands or I have seen her multiple times at the palm grove at Campbell Industrial Park, but she was last seen there on 11-3-08, though I have checked the spot after that date.

Obviously, the reason is clear, she was in travel mode, headed back to civilization. It was great to see the girl back home again. Aloha, DB

DB Post Monday November 10th

M&M@RI, Irma&Kermit@WP, 11-10-08

My first pass through the entire SE quadrant was a total bust, so I decided to do a SW quadrant run. Just as I was approaching the area, the Billands called to report Irma at White Plains, so I continued on the the wind sock at Kalaeloa Beach. A fisherman there advised that an animal had been there, but had departed just moments ago, headed in a White Plains direction. I notified the Billand and then met them there at Irma's location. As we were talking we observed what proved to be Kermit just hauling out down in front of cottage #1944. We got him cordoned off and got ID shots of both animals.

When I returned to the pier, at 1320 I found what would prove to be M&M cruisin' on the beach at the left end of Rabbit Island. Once again, she had the place all to herself. Aloha, DB

A day with........Irma..the Royal Lady At White Plains!

Good Day,

Our only find was The Royal Lady....Irma, who is still parked at White Plains. There were alot of people out there and most were respectful. Some paid no attention and walked through the barriers...Irma took care of them!!! Nice head lunge, couple of snorts and folks got the hint.Nobody should mess with IRMA!!!! She appeared to start a molt. We'll see her better tomorrow hopefully. She has been in the same spot all week since last Sunday. And she has been visited by Kermit and Benny...Mostly Benny. But...she is still playing hard to get...Benny found that out. There were no other finds...we tried. Seal ya,BB

DB Post Sunday November 9th

M&M w/ "Wilson"@RI, 11-9-08
As has been the case a lot lately, the only critter in my life was once again M&M, on Rabbit Island. She and "Wilson" had the place all to themselves. Hopefully, some or all will recognize "Castaway" humor!

The Billands checked in around 0900 to report Irma still at White Plains. There was a bit of a wrinkle to that story. WP lifeguard Bryan called at 1103 to advise that Benny was just hauling out to join Irma. I notified the Billands immediately, but when they arrived at 1125 there was no Benny. They checked the rest of the neighborhood and found nobody. At 1225 they called back to say that Bryan had told them that Irma had given Benny a coupla' "get outta' here, punk" snorts, and he had departed shortly after his arrival. Aloha, DB

(double click on the photo to enlarge, lo and behold there's "wilson" someone call Tom Hanks)

Barb & Rob find Irma & Benny together again..

This morning we found Irma...alone. And...she had pulled along the barrier left out last night with her up shore to White Plains near the wall people sit on. We hurried to try to get the ropes back away from Irma. And...as we were busy doing that, we had noticed another seal swimming by. We quickly backed up, watched to our eager minds on who could that seal be?????? Well..it turned out to be...................................RE74. Benny, and he was hauling up, stretching to see where his Irma was. It was the cutest hauling in observation. Guess Mr. Benny zoned in on her cause he immediately shot up on shore, one foot away from Miss Irma. Irma got angry and SNORTED over and over and Benny, settled down. People were gathering around the seals and we were worried as Benny looked disturbed. He suddenly turned around and went 25' towards the shore and remained there. Robert talked to all the folks who were less than 10' from Irma. FINALLY, they all listened and MOVED BACK!!! We finished the barrier around the seals and left to hunt some for more treasures. Nothing found. Got another call of a seal at Nanakuli/Tracks area. After a long search, there we found to our surprise......................2AW/2AZ. He was in a really great area, as even Rob and I had a hard time finding him. He is a big green giant and it was nice to meet him again since Feb. 08 I think. No Kermit found today. Who knows what will be around the corner....TOMORROW. Here are a few pics of todays adventures. Oh and the one with the guy with the guitar, Irma didn't seem to mind his music at all...she just lay there enjoying his entertainment.