Hawaiian monk seals

Two Hawaiian monk seals relax in a tide pool on the Big Island.Identifying tags on the tail flippers of a Hawaiian monk seal,
This photo is somewhat unusual, particularly for the Big Island. Outside of mothers with pups, it’s uncommon to see two monk seals together, much less relaxing in the same tide pool. One reason is the scarcity of seals. There are 1,000 or so in the remote northwest islands, but only about 200 around the main Hawaiian islands. Of those 200, there may be as few as 5 living around the Big Island.

One of those is IO5, a 7-year-old male, who I’ve posted about before (here, here, and here). He’s the seal I see most. In this photo, IO5 is in the foreground in what I can only describe as a characteristic pose. He’s resting, which is what monk seals do when they haul out on land.

The other seal was new to me so I was keen to identify it. There are two main means of identification. Many seals have a code bleached onto their sides. Such a mark is good for about a year until the seal molts when it sheds it’s skin. This new seal was not bleached.

The other prime method is red tags attached to the seal’s tail flippers. I moved around, trying to get a good view of the tail, but couldn’t see any tags. (I should mention here that the goal is never to disturb seals when they’re resting, so while they reclined in the tide pool, I was sneaking around on the cliff 30 feet away and another 10 to 20 feet up.) I watched for a while but this seal showed even less inclination to move than IO5. It was so still, I wondered if it was dead, but I did see a couple of twitches.

Over the next few days I saw the new seal three more times. The first time it was in a position where I couldn’t see the tail. The second time, I caught a tantalizing glimpse of red, but that told me nothing more than that the seal had been tagged. (IO5 has also been tagged, but has lost them over the years and now bears only a nubbin of one tag.) The third time I saw the new seal it was out in an open spot where I could get a great view without disturbing it. Again I could see part of the tag, but not enough to identify it. So I hung around for the best part of an hour. I got good photos both sides, of the head and tail, but still only a glimpse of a tag. During that time the seal’s only movement was a twitch of the tail, which covered the bit of tag I could see. The only good news about all this was that the seal looked in excellent shape. I didn’t see any wounds or other marks that might indicate a problem.

Finally, a full week after the first sighting, I went down to the same area again. At first, I didn’t see any seals, but I thought I’d check a low spot on the cliff for another view. About 15 feet away, stretched out on the rock, was the new seal. It was facing me but, eyes closed, remained unaware of my presence. I took a couple of photos, then climbed back up the cliff and around to where I could see the tail flippers. Eureka! The flippers were splayed in such a way that I could clearly see two tags, one in each flipper.

I sent the photos in to the NOAA Fisheries Marine Mammal Response Coordinator and a couple of days later I learned that the new seal is B00 (not sure why the other tag says B01). The seal is a 9-year-old female that was born on Kauai. In recent years she has also been seen on Molokai and Maui. I think is the first sighting for her on the Big Island. She had her first pup this year on Maui, but unfortunately it was stillborn. Perhaps her sojourn on the Big Island with IO5 will presage another pup sometime next year.

For more information about Hawaiian monk seals, go to www.pifsc.noaa.gov/hawaiian_monk_seal/ or www.marinemammalcenter.org/hawaii.

Brugmansia

A brugmansia grows beside the Kohala DitchA brugmansia flower
I grew a brugmansia at my old garden in Washington State. During the course of a summer, it grew to two or three feet high and bloomed. As I expected, the first serious dip in temperature reduced it to a sorry wilted remnant.

Here on the Big Island, such temperature dips aren’t a worry, so a brugmansia will grow to a very large shrub and carry its blooms a good while. This splendid specimen is growing next to the Kohala Ditch in North Kohala. The ditch was used to bring water from the Kohala Mountains to the sugar plantations. These days the water is mostly used for agricultural irrigation.

For more information about the history of the Kohala Ditch, go to fluminkohala.com/the-kohala-ditch.

Yellowtail Coris

A female yellowtail corisTwo juvenile yellowtail coris
The two fish in the second photo are juvenile yellowtail coris. Over time, they’ll transform into adult colors like the one above. The bright blue spots identify this yellowtail coris as a female.

In my attempts to identify what I see in the water, I use John P. Hoover’s book The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales, and Seals. His website is hawaiisfishes.com.

Young stick insect

A young stick insect clings to some mesh.
In my ongoing quest to thwart leaf miners from devouring the basil plants, I’ve surrounded them with netting made from window screen material. One morning, I saw this little fellow perched on the netting. It’s easily the smallest stick insect I’ve seen. That’s a pretty fine mesh it’s clinging to.

Cow shower

A cow cools off in water from an irrigation outlet
One warm afternoon I came across this scene. This pasture is one of several irrigated by water from the Kohala Ditch. The irrigation nozzles throw a fine spray over a considerable distance, but when the flow is turned off, the water in the pipes continues to drain down the hill before exiting in a gentle arc through the lower nozzles.

I’ve seen cows use the spray from these nozzles as water fountains. This one has figured out that such a flow makes for a nice, cooling shower on a warm afternoon. She stood there for several minutes, letting the water splash against her, before ambling off into the field.

For more information about the Kohala Ditch, go to fluminkohala.com/the-kohala-ditch.