Friday, September 30

Tuesday, September 27

Monk Seal Monday--Tuesday Edition #2

It's Tuesday, so that means it's time for another Monk Seal Monday.  I spent the afternoon searching for seals and only found this adorable little monk.  She is known as RH80 and is the youngest of our 2016 models. The large V80 you see on her side is a bleach mark placed on her via a science team to help us ID her from a distance. It's just regular old hair bleach, does no damage or harm. The mark will gradually fade and will be completely gone when she molts in a year. 




After leaving this cutie, I did some more beach clean up. The most interesting find today was a Snoopy and Woodstock Box and a glass bottle--but, no message inside!!




Today (Tuesday) I'm off on a special seal survey. Hopefully I'll be able to share something interesting on Wednesday.

Blessings,
Val

Monday, September 26

God Winked...

Like clockwork, as the sun begins to set at Hanalei Bay people line their lawn chairs to watch the colors change.
Saturday night is was as though God winked as the sun faded away. So blessed.

Sunday, September 25

Black and White Sunday...

A last beach fling with our dog friend Mili.  I'm going to miss you sweet girl.
Mili and her humans are moving to Texas next week.  :(

Saturday, September 24

Shiny and New...

I always enjoy my Monk Seal Survey days. It's allows me time to clear my head, thank the Lord for all my blessings and watch nature at its finest. Yesterday was a survey day, as the regular volunteer for this area is away.  I plodded thru the deep sand in hopes of finding any sort of gem. Yesterday I observed 4 seals, two of which I told you about in a recent post (our molting seals RK28 and RF30)  They are all shiny and  look like brand spanking new except for the scars.  Anyhow, they will probably spend a couple more days on the beach resting and then hit the open sea in search of food.   I did find another pair  R8HY (male)  and RK14( female)  R8HY is looking for love and RK14 is ready to rest after weaning her pup and a molt is in the near future for her.

RK14 catching some zzz's



R8HY--got girls on his mind


RK14 and R8HY doing a little synchronized napping

RF30 looking spiffy in her new coat


RK28  showing off her new coat as well.

marine float :(  I was able to remove it from the beach later in the day. Seal was NOT disturbed!!

3 of the 7 floats I collected
I spent about 30 minutes picking up more marine debris, collected a large garbage bag full along with 7 marine floats. It sure seems like a lot of junk, but it's just a drop in the bucket. However, at least it's off the beach.  My plea today is, if you see some garbage on your walk, run or adventures, please stop and pick up at least 3 pieces and dispose of it properly--our children and wildlife deserve a clean world.

Enjoy your world,

Val

Tuesday, September 20

It's Catastrophic

As promised here's Monk Seal Monday--on Tuesday.

I surveyed a local beach yesterday and found two female seals. When you see these pictures you're going to ask questions like; why do they look so bad, they look sick, are they hurt, are they dead?

They are not sick, hurt, or dead. They are experiencing their annual Castastrophic Molt.  Its a time where they shed the entire outer layer of hair and skin. They don't feel well (I mean,would you?) they aren't eating much and spend even more time sleeping. The whole process takes anywhere from 10 days to several weeks, depending on the health conditions and age of the seal. They also tend to spend more time on sandy beaches, using the sand as a loofa!! Smart animals.

Going to give you some more info about each of these girls.

This is RK28, she's 14-15 years of age and has had a couple of known pups. One of those pups included the 2 week old pup that was killed 2 summers ago by a stray dog. She suffered some injuries as well as she tried to defend her pup. She is heavily scared and one of the largest female seals I've every seen.  She has another interesting injury on her back, in fact it's still healing. It's referred to as a mobbing wound. Seems the male seals find her desirable and gang up on her to order to mate. Poor thing!! All of those scars make it easy to identify her and I must say she's one of my favorites.

Here you can see the shedding skin and hair


Look closely and see her many scars on her belly


another look at the shedding of skin and hair


many scars on her chin and neck


her mobbing wound, healing nicely
Here's RF30, a 2 year old female.  She will not be of reproductive age for a couple more years. She's spending time cruising up and down the eastern shore of Kauai. A couple months ago she found herself in trouble as she got her herself hooked by a large fishing hook. Well, it was life threating and so she was captured and was "life' flighted (via a Coast Guard C130) to Oahu for a marine mammal vet team to remove the hook. She was returned 3 days later and is doing fine.

1/2 green 1/2 gray
needs a little more scrubbing


out for a swim


hanging under the trees
I hope to get some photos of these two once the molt is complete---they'll be pretty and shiny gray!!
Stay tuned....

Monday, September 19

Wanna Dance????



looks like they're dancing.
Teaser--today is monk seal monday. So I'm off to find some, photos tomorrow (I hope)

Sunday, September 18

Long Live the Beach...

Yesterday was International Coastal Clean-up Day. I spent the morning with Kauai Surfrider Members and other volunteers to clean up two eastside Kauai beaches known as Kitchens and Nukoli`i.  Over 2247 lbs. of marine debris was taken off these two beaches in three hours. The debris included all sorts of plastics, beach toys, oyster spacers,  bottles, cans, wrappers and of course net/ropes.  The amount of plastic on the beach is heartbreaking.

Just a portion of the debris removed

I was told that the top 5 debris items found on the beach are: cigarette butts, straws, plastic bottle caps, food wrappers and lighters. I am saddened to say I found all of those yesterday!!

a drop in the bucket, 5 minutes worth of cleanup

As I was walking the beach with my bucket full of debris a tourist stopped me and proceeded to tell me that this beach condition was awful and something needed to be done.  Hmmm....guess he didn't see me bending over and collecting debris.  We all have to do our part, had he just picked up one piece of debris, the beach would  have been one piece cleaner.

You don't have to live near the beach to do a cleanup...look around I bet you can find something.

ugh---the micro plastic



1 of the 3 large nets/ropes that was removed


volunteers working to cut up net into manageable pieces


nets and rope




good job--1/3 of net/rope off the reef


why do we do it??? for the sea life--can you see the start fish??

Saturday, September 17

Saturday Morning Walk...

Thought I'd share our morning walk along our coastal bike/walk path.  Breathe in, breathe out!!











now wasn't that refreshing!!