Jason O’Rourke

@jasonophoto.com

Landscape and Wildlife Photographer… Can NFTs help save the Hawaiian monk seal? The Rescue edition: https://app.manifold.xyz/c/the-rescue

Hard to believe this photo is six years old already, with one of our legendary Hawaiian monk seal mothers, Honey Girl. Here she is with her last pup in 2019, Makoa. Unfortunately, we lost him as a weaner and we lost Honey Girl the next year during the pandemic. 📷📸🦭🦊

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Another benefit of being home, I had the opportunity to make the rounds with one of our local @HIMarineAnimal volunteers and observe 21 of our Laysan albatross chicks, including this one sitting out in an open field. Their plumage is starting to shift to the adult feathers. 📸📷🪶

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On a hike out at the end of the day, long after the monk seal count had finished, I found RL42 where I had seen her at 8 am that morning, snoozing away in a tide pool. In more recent years, I've been able to watch RL42 with her own pups... hopefully, I'll get that chance this summer too! 📷📸🦑🦭🦊

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Another beautiful day in NYC and a good excuse to take the camera out to Central Park. This double-crested cormorant was fishing just off the view point where I stopped, which gave me a good chance for a quick portrait. 📸📷🪶

A double-crested cormorant turns to face the camera, with water gliding over its back in Central Park, New York.

I heard rumors of a Hawaiian monk seal on the Big Island that weighed 1000 pounds. Most monk seals are between 450-600 pounds. 1000 pounds? I had to see this for myself, & as luck would have it, while I was exploring a beach on the Kona side in 2021, Waimanu hauled out for an afternoon snooze. 📷📸🦭🦑

An abnormally large Hawaiian monk seal on her side… rumors suggest she weighs as much as 1,000 pounds, but scientists say her blubber isn’t that heavy. She is a big girl!

Any time I visit the Big Island, I always make a stop in at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach to check out the Honu there... on the way to the eruption, we pulled into Punalu'u and that allowed me to capture these three Honu basking on the black sand. 🤙🏼📷📸🐢

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Another great spot to watch the power a winter swell brings to the North Shore is Shark’s Cove… the waves hit the back of the reef with explosive results! 📷📸🌊

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Before and after his very first molt with Holokai (#MonkSealRG40)... you've seen the "before" as my annual Halloween green goblin photo, but I love the side by side of these two images, taken just a few weeks apart, where the "after" is his fresh coat. 📷📸🦑🦊

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A super rare photo from the archives... does this Honu look like she's enjoying a bath, or trying to get me to help her get out of this little hole on the reef? 📷📸🐢🦎🦑

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Before my wife and I got married here in 2014 (ten years ago today), we made multiple planning trips and considered where to hold the ceremony. Shipwreck Beach was just as beautiful when we visited as it was on the day of our wedding.

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Luana and her pup got separated and she was began vocalizing to get him to come back up the beach to where she was. While she looks a little wild eyed, she actually could see right where he was and like any mother does, was telling him to come back to her. 📷📸🦭🦊🐙

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Happy #EarthDay! Here's a shot of one of Oahu's most famous Hawaiian monk seals, Honey Girl, snoozing to the sound of the crashing waves, without a footprint in the sand around her. Hoping we can continue to coexist with these amazing animals, and save the species from extinction. 🦭📸📷🦊

One of Oahu’s most famous Hawaiian monk seals, Honey Girl, is stretched out sleeping on a deserted North Shore beach, with waves crashing behind her.

I feel a little sluggish today after an 19-hour day yesterday, including a brutal 10- or 11-hour drive back to NYC with half the city on the roads with us, but… … it was worth it. 📷📸

Totality as seen at the base of Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, New York.

Hearing about baby monk seals born early in the season in Hawaii (pups can be born any time of year, but typically between May and September) reminds me of when my wife and I got to show her parents this March baby on the Big Island. #MonkSealMonday 📸📷🦭🦊

A baby monk seal snuggles with its mother on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Just before the lockdown in 2020, my wife & I took a hike on Oahu’s North Shore, this little one - RL74, a weaner from Molokai who wasn’t quite a year old. She woke up from an afternoon snooze to spot me and my big lens across the tide pool... what do you think of her expression? 📷📸🦭🦊

An endangered Hawaiian monk seal wakes up from an afternoon nap, looks across the tide pool and sees me, with my large telephoto lens, taking her photograph. To me, she looks annoyed.

While Hawaiian monk seals are often thought of as solitary animals, they do occasionally appear in groups, usually all males, like this one out on Oahu's west side. This is the most Hawaiian monk seals I've ever seen gathered together on one beach. 📷📸🦭🦊

5 male Hawaiian monk seals take an afternoon snooze on a beach on Oahu’s west side.

Sometimes, it’s not what you go looking for, but what you find. At Laniakea Beach, I make the trip to photograph the beautiful Honu resting on the beach… but on the way back to the car, I spotted this beauty. Happy Aloha Flower Friday! 📸📷🌸

A pink hibiscus against a dark background at Laniakea Beach on Oahu’s North Shore.

I finally have a shot appropriate for the 🦊 channel. Beat up my knees skiing at the beginning of the week (but the powder was so much fun), so took it easy today and went for a drive with Annie to see what we could find. Good idea! 📷📸🦊

A fox squints over a snow bank at the camera with a thicket in the background.

I’ve been looking forward to seeing this print for a while. Shipped it directly to my collector and planned to sign it on my next trip through Arizona. Took me longer than I expected, but now it’s signed… Aloha! 📸📷

A photo of me with a 32”x48” print of my Lava Drip image, which features glowing lava as it makes the ocean entry on the Big Island of Hawaii.

I was leaning out to take a shot of Waimea Valley on Kauai, and looked to my left and found this guy staring at me. How could I resist taking his photo? 📸📷🦊

A goat munches on grass at the edge of the cliffs in Waimea Valley on the island of Kauai.