Happy Halloween!

My pumpkin from the Mt. Shasta Pumpkin Train ride! I haven't carved a pumpkin in decades!

Attack of the Birds!

Happy Halloween! Channeling a little Hitchcock with the swirling sooty terns. They are kinda scary!

Freaky Friday Frigates

Video of Frigate birds "playing" with a tern. They are sorta like orcas in that aspect - play/killing smaller birds. Older females are juveniles are the ones more likely to participate in this behavior, and steal food from other birds.

What's that you say? A blue whale washed up...?!

Sooooo...don't know if ya'll heard the news - A 72-foot female blue whale washed ashore just south of Fort Bragg, CA (Oct. 19). Evidently, she was struck by a NOAA (ironic, no?) research vessel. Reportedly, the skipper felt the ship hit something, then a bit later a blue whale was seen surfacing with blood gushing out of her...and it is likely that this same whale is the one that washed up dead. How SAD. There are somewhere around 12.000 of these animals left in the world, only a fraction of their population before they were nearly hunted to extinction. Blue whales are the largest animal EVER to have lived on our planet, females can be over 100 ft in length, and weigh just under 200 tons! Because of their size, blue whales do not have any natural predators (at least in this present time period), but it has been noted that killer whales do attack them. Their biggest threats are ship collisions. Two weeks ago, another blue whale washed ashore in Monterey. In the past few years, more blue whales have been documented struck by ships/washing up on beaches in California. Ships need to slow their roll, seriously. I understand that they aren't deliberately trying to hit this animal, but there is almost no good reason that they are being struck. Blu whales are as long as some of these giganic ships, and they are slow moving! They feed on near the surface for goodness sake! They can't really ever sneak up on you now, c'mon! Rant over.

So on my way from Hoopa, I took a 3 hour detour hoping to see this blue whale. I've NEVER seen a blue whale, alive or dead. And, it would be amazing to see one, either way - though I would prefer alive. I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, and after doing a little research on the internet, I discovered that I could go see the whale, if I went through botanical gardens. Soooo...I drove the winding road from 101 to Fort Bragg, and did the whole sneaky-sneak trying to find where the beach access was to see the whale type thing, even though I was trying not to look like it. Hahaha...well, I got to the botanical gardens and found out it cost money to go through, so I got back into my car. On the way noticing another couple doing the sneaky-sneak. I found a road close-by with coastal access, but couldn't actually find the beach...so I went a few miles more south, and found a trail through the woods to the beach. I was way too far south, but got a few nice pics on a cliff. At least I saw the ocean. So then I went back to the botanical gardens, willing to pay, so long as I could see the whale. BUT! When I talked to the lady who works there, she told me NO! I kinda think it is because they don't want people to snoop around looking for the whale, but she said it was on private property. And that they were fining people who were trespassing, and that the whale was 1/4 mile more south. I got a bit discouraged, seeing as I took an enormous detour to see the whale. So I went back to the beach access road about 1/4 mile down the road. Then I found a sign that said I couldn't see the whale from that point, and she was more north on private property. UGH! Defeated. And I don't have the money to pay a fine, so I got back in my car and drove another 3.5 hours home, and hung my head in shame.

My search for the whale:



No whale, but look what else I found:

Up Close and Personal

Weaner sleeping:


Front flipper:


New tags:


Algae on adult male:


New amputation:


Mob wound reopened (large on mid-dorsal) and new ones posterior:


Male mobber, who beat him up?

Mom and Pup

Mom and young pup playing in the water.

Molters!

Monk seals molt during the end of summer and into fall. Females usually molt first, specifically the younger ones, and those that did not have pups. Juveniles also molt during this time, the healthier ones molting first. Then after females have weaned their pups, and fattened up again, they come back to the island to molt! Males invest so much energy into trying to mate with females, so they tend to molt during the end of summer, and into the fall. Molting only takes about a week! Monk seals are the most closely related to Elephant Seals, so it is no surprise that they molt the same way - catastrophic molt. They shed sheets of old skin/fur, not just the hair itself, and it only takes about a week. And they are a shiny, silver color when they are done! They are so sleek when they are molted, and sometimes you can see scars or natural bleaches that you usually can't see, so surprise!

Of course when they are molting, the seals are very aggro! They usually stay hauled out for the duration of molt, sometimes going into the water to cool off. But they are not feeding, and tend to hang out in the same area for the whole time. They are also very stinky - probably all the oils! They seem to be very uncomfortable during molt - pretty understandable, because I would be really itchy if all my skin was sloughing off at once! So we are especially careful not to disturb molters...but sometimes they come up to camp!

Here is a sub-adult male hauling up at camp, and scratching himself on anything available:



TE50 also molted at camp...and rubbed all up on my tent, and knocked down my tent poles!






Almost finished molting:


Close up of old pelage being molted, and the new silvery coat underneath:

Laysan Albatross Dance

Juvenile Laysan Albatross practicing the mating dance. Very cool!

Big Fat Weaners and Pups!

I love puppies! Anyway...monk seal pups are usually born between February and late July, with the peak being late March through June. Pups have very soft, downy black fur, and are super cute! Females nurse their pups for about 5 weeks, going in and out of the shallow water with the pups, and not eating. Mothers usually leave their pup sometime at night, so when we walk the beach in the morning, we usually find a bawling pup calling to its mom. At that point we call them weaners! And they hang out on the beach and spend lots of time playing in the water with other juveniles/weaners or marine debris. Once they are weaned, we do our best to flipper tag them, so that we can get their length and girth as soon after their mother leaves, so we can assess how healthy and fit she was - as it correlates to the size of her pup. Also, the bigger the weaner, the greater its chance of survival, especially through the first year. The first year is the most difficult because the weaners are left to fend for themselves, and have to teach themselves how to feed/hunt! They are also very small compared to the other seals, and there are dangers such as sharks. But, the most pressing matter is starvation. So that is why we are de-worming the juveniles! We (meaning me, Gretchen, Derek, Monica, and Heather) were the first people in the world to EVER de-worm a wild monk seal! Hahaha!!! It is totally awesome, because we are being pro-active about trying to conserve this species, as its population seems to be steadily declining...we are attempting to intervene as least invasive as possible, so we are de-worming them to lessen the parasite burden (which can be excessive in young animals) by getting rid of the round worms and tapeworms that are stealing the little bit of food that they are actually getting, which will hopefully boost up survival. TaaaDaaa!! Keep your fingers crossed!

Pup 48 with a fresh pelage bleach, courtesy of me, later tagged at TA03:



Pup 14, only a few days old, going into the water with mom for the first time:



Super fat pup (of TQ42) a few days before weaning:


One of the pups already born when we first arrived on Laysan:


Pup 48 (TA03) again, a little older:


TA60 - our largest female weaner - she was huge!!


TA68 - the largest male weaner, he was 130cm length x 130 cm girth!



Always lying next to something!


Sea cucumber intestines stuck on its face:


TA88 - female weaner:



Weaner party:

Seal Time!

Drum roll please... Here are pictures of the most endangered marine mammal! Hawaiian Monk seals are the oldest living line of pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, walruses) and are constrained to warm water. There were 3 populations of monk seals, but the Caribbean seals went extinct in the early 1950's. The Mediterranean monk seals are even more rare, with only about 350 individuals left. There are estimated less than 1,000 Hawaiian monk seals - most of them living in the NW Hawaiian Islands, such as Laysan. However, the Main Islands are seeing an increase in numbers, and females recently started giving birth there, again!

Laysan has a population of about 200+ individuals, and I got to see most of them this summer! A few seals like to sleep around camp, and some just come to hang out for a day or night. Our regular guy, for the past 20+ years, is Brendan. Named after one of our ladies who used to do field work on Laysan, and now works in the Honolulu office.

Adult male getting ready for the night's slumber at sunset:


Adult male (bottom) guarding an adult female (permanent ID: TD98), hoping to get lucky:


Sand facial!


Seal party - weaners, juvenile, and sub-adult male:


Yearling (TW04) sleeping at camp:


3 year-old male zonked out:



3 year-old female helping trim the Tournefortia branches:


Seal waddling up the berm for sleepy time:


Adult male guarding a female, barking off a cruising male:


Sub-adult male:


Adult male (TC42) yawning:


Brendan (TK41) sleeping - or guarding? - Gretchen's tent: