About 12 harbor seals swimming near the haul-out site at
Cupsogue around 9:00 AM, the water level was extremely high
nearly 2 hours before dead low tide. At 11:00 AM about 20
seals were present, by 11:25 as we were leaving, 22
hauled out on the barely accessible sand bar and 3 were
swimming.
during an early research trip, at 10:30 there were 12 harbor
seals swimming and none hauled-out; at 11:04, 40
hauled out. Returned at 12:40 with the seal
walk group, but none were hauled out; just about 18 swimming
around.
Today, a calmer and warmer day at
Cupsogue Beach brought out lots of folks in addition to
those with CRESLI to view the seals. Unfortunately, the
other people had inadvertently disturbed the seals, as did
aircraft. At 8:30, about 20 seals were swimming and
none hauled-out.
At 11:30, once
again about 20 were swimming. By 12:05 PM 11 had hauled-out
and another 11 were in the water.
photos
Video
Research and seal
walk
Saturday,
April 20, 2013
42 harbor seals
About 35 harbor seals at 7:50 AM (30 hauled-out; 5
in water) during research observation.
returned at
9:15 with the seal walk group, there were 42 harbor seals
hauled out.
At 7:49, there were 45 harbor seals hauled-out at
Cupsogue during the early research trip. 10 minutes later,
and all had been flushed from the sandbar.
At 9:40,
the group of CRESLI seal walk participants caught a distant
glimpse of 30 seals hauled-out, and we watched them all
return to the water. Eventually, at the observation site,
about 15 seals were observed hauling-out
photos
Research and seal
walk
Saturday,
April 2t, 2013
6 harbor seals and 80
grey seals
At the request of the wonderful
people at
the North Fork Audubon Society,
CRESLI's president, Dr. Artie Kopelman, was the naturalist
for a seal cruise from Greenport, NY on April 27,
2013, on the Peconic Star Express. We traveled in
the area of Plum Gut, Great and Little Gull Islands, "The
Ruins", and Gardiners Island before heading back.
Overall we saw about 80 grey seals and 6 harbor seals. It
was a spectacular trip.
114 harbor seals and 1 grey seal hauled out Photos
Research
March 4, 2012
133 harbor seals and 1 grey seal hauled out Photos
Seal walk
March 09, 2012
About 70 harbor seals were hauled
out at Cupsogue this morning at 11:25, but high levels of
aircraft activity, caused them to flush repeatedly.
Eventually all left but the core group of 6 individuals. Photos
Seal walk for the Hampton Bays Middle School
March 10, 2012
35 harbor seals were hauled out at 11:50 AM.
They were disturbed and flushed from the site later; only 12
remained swimming in the area by the time we returned at 1:40 Photos
Research and seal walk
March 17, 2012
105 seals hauled out between 7:30 and 7:50 AM.
120 harbor seals
hauled out later (around 9:40) but were flushed from the site by
aicarft noise, and repeatdly buzzed by a private
helicopter Photos
Research and seal walk
March 18, 2012
122 seals hauled out between
8:30 and 8:35 AM.
136 harbor seals
were seen hauled out later (around 10:40) and remained Photos
Research and seal walk
March 24, 2012
6 harbor seals swimming between
12:00 and 12:30 PM.
2 harbor seals
were seen briefly later (around 2:20 PM) Photos
Once again, the seals
were harassed by a vessel and they left the sand bar. We
were too far away to photograph the event or make out the
boat's #.
Come on
boaters out there, give the
seals some space. Photograph them from a distance
(I do it from 150 - 200 yards away) and if they begin to
leave the haulout site, BACK OFF! Photos
Research trip
April 14, 2012
Research trip: 65 harbor and 2 juvenile grey
seals just after day break.
So many people came on their
own, went right down to the shore. The seals, which had been
flushed from the sandbar earlier, were constantly too disturbed to
haul-out. I wish that the public would give the seals the benefit of
the doubt and stay up on the bluff, away from the beach,
and keep a low profile when observing/photographing seals
at Cupsogue. Excessive disturbance can
lead to problems for the seals and potential abandonment of the
site.
* on 4/04/09, extreme
winds (30+ knots, gusting to 45 knots) forced the trip to be
cancelled on-site. Seal observations and
photographs were by CRESLI's Dr. A. H. Kopelman later that
morning.
** on 4/05/09, seals were flushed
from the haulout site shortly after our arrival and were kept off the
haulout site by the presence of a vessel constantly travelling back and
forth through the groups of seals in the water. The vessel
operator then wrongly decided to bring the vessel onto the sandbar just
adjacent to the haulout site. His actions could be in violation of
the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the vessels number will be
submitted to the appropriate authorities.
78
seals (52 harbor seals; 25 grey
seals, and 1 harp seal): 73 at the haulout site (53 on the rocks [35
harbor seals; 17 grey seals; and 1 juvenile harp]; 20 in the water (17 harbor and 3
grey); 5 in the water east of the haulout site (3
harbor and 2 grey)
4-5
harbor seals in the water, 0.3 miles west of the haul-out zone
SATURDAY,12/06/03
cancelled due to winter storm
SUNDAY, 12/21/03
8
harbor seals and 1 grey seal in water
SATURDAY, 01/03/04
125
harbor seals (82 on rocks, 43 in water); 2 grey seals
SATURDAY, 01/31/04
22
seals as follows: 3 harbor seals and 1 grey seal floating on
ice; 17 harbor seals and 1 grey seal in the water.
SUNDAY, 02/15/04
25
harbor seals at Camp Hero: 19 on rocks; 6 in water
SATURDAY, 04/03/04
bad
weather caused us hike over to the Camp Hero haul-out site; no seals
were seen
SATURDAY, 05/08/04
~12
seals in the water including several young harp, grey and harbor
seals
SUNDAY, 05/16/04
36
seals hauled out
2002-2003
DATE
STATUS
December 29, 2002
13
harbor seals (1 hauled out; 12 in the water)
January 12, 2003
20
seals in water (1 grey seal; 19 harbor seals)
January 25, 2003
8
harbor seals in the water
(haul out area was
covered in ice)
February 15, 2003
15
harbor seals (2 hauled out; others in water)
March 15, 2003
30
harbor seals (24 hauled out; 6 in water)
April 27, 2003
6
harbor seals (2 hauled out; 4 in water)
May 25, 2003
2
seals known to be in the area, but none were spotted today
2001-2002
DATE
STATUS
December 8, 2001
6 harbor seals sighted
January 6, 2002
70 seals sighted (35 hauled out and 35 in water)
Around 7:00 AM, 2 fin whales were sighted by CRESLI's
Artie Kopelman and Amanda Johnson, 1.5 miles offshore from overlook
on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk;
at
9:30 that morning a fin whale was sighted by Art Cooley about
1.5-2.0 miles SE of Montauk Point
January 26, 2002
9 harbor seals and 1 grey seal (all in the
water)
February 23, 2002
15-20 harbor seals
(3-5 hauled out; 12-15 in water)
19 Harbor seals (13 hauled out; 6 in the water)
and 1 grey seal (in the water).
March 24, 2002
20 seals (19 harbor seals and 1 grey seal).
April 06, 2002
2 harbor seals (in the water near the lighthouse).
High NNW winds kept seals off the rocks of the
haul-out area; we searched the area on the leeward side and around
the lighthouse instead.
April 21, 2002
5 harbor seals (swimming near the haul out zone)
May 4, 2002
no seals
For further information about Long Island's seals,
click here.
PLEASE! PLEASE! All of us involved in monitoring the seals at
Montauk would prefer that you view the seals in a supervised naturalist
led walk. If too many people continue to disturb the haul out
zone, the seals may abandon it in the future.
REMEMBER, DO NOT COME WITHIN 70 YARDS OF THE HAUL OUT ZONE WHEN
SEALS ARE HAULED OUT. Do not approach the seals from
the beach side, use the back trail instead. If you don't know
about the trail, don't go - wait and join a supervised trip led by
CRESLI, or led by the park staff (for Montauk State Park led trips
call 631-668-5000).
