La Perouse Bay Monk Seal Mom & Pup (Nov. 15th)

No idea why I didn't take a photo of the pair, but Mike did a video that I could crop for a little photo. It would be grand if I could post that video to include the sounds they made. There was a volunteer keeping people away so it was impossible to do much with a phone. (Kicked myself more than once for taking too many clothes and not bringing my telephoto lens!)

The pair were ensconced on a shallow shelf out of the main surf and not on a beach. It was like a small kiddie pool for the pup. It would snuggle up to mom for a meal and then wander off exploring. When it got to the further edge, the mom would rouse herself to call the pup back to safety. The pup had a higher pitched bark that made me think it was saying, Mom, Mom, Mom, looking for her attention.

We walked around the little bay and explored out on the lava beyond that. The crab was just a shell perched up on a rock, which I discovered only after working very hard to quietly sneak up on it.

The yellow Sleepy Orange butterflies were all over. They seemed to like the lava and weren't looking for flowers. I wonder if they liked the heat or the salt?

I found a Monarch Butterfly on the ground after the rain. It was still fluttering, but looked half dead. I carefully scooped it onto my phone and carried it back to where I had seen another Monarch feeding on yellow flowers. It took several tries to get it situated on the flower, but when I left it was feeding. Only after putting it up here, did I discover it really was a Monarch--and I wonder if they are all over on the island because of some misguided teacher's school project to raise butterflies or if they got to the island hidden in some tropical milkweed?

Posted on November 24, 2018 05:46 PM by wenatcheeb