New England · 2000—2026
Grey and harbour seals
Seals around New England.
Follow public seal observations from New England. Browse published records, explore the places and stories behind them, or share an encounter with the Seal Watch team.
- Total reports
- 443
- Latest observation
Public reports · newest first
Public records archive
4 January—25 December
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29 of 443 reports
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Explore by place
Markers group reports by reviewed names in their public locations, not exact sighting positions. Circle size reflects report counts. Select a place to filter the archive.
22 of 29 reports mapped · 10 places
New England Six-state outline
Reported places Detail of outlined region
Mapped places North to south
- Downeast Maine / Acadia2 reports
- Midcoast Maine1 report
- Casco Bay / Portland2 reports
- Seacoast / Isles of Shoals1 report
- Massachusetts North Shore2 reports
- Outer Cape Cod3 reports
- Lower Cape Cod4 reports
- South Cape / Buzzards Bay1 report
- Rhode Island coast1 report
- Connecticut coast5 reports
Places without a map point · 7 reports
Broad or unreviewed public locations remain available in the archive.
Map: Natural Earth.
Reports over time
All datesSelect a year, then a month. Counts describe published reports; one animal may appear in several reports.
Months in 2012
Grouped by each record’s archive date. Approximate dates keep their original labels in the records below.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/166860
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Several Harbor Seals are hauled out; count remains unset. This is a separate exact-day encounter from 176252.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176252
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Several Harbor Seals are hauled out; count remains unset.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/14970408
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One live Grey Seal head is swimming.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/290744753; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/290744751
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist pages and photographs reviewed. Same local outing: one photo shows one Grey Seal close in water and the other many hauled out. Grouped as one encounter; count remains unset.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/60294907
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One live Grey Seal is swimming.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8310045
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One live Grey Seal is visible; broad county locality retained because the map has a broad radius.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35557917
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One live Grey Seal head is visible in water.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2277459
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. The note says remains of a Harbor Seal were found washed up, mostly skin and nails; photograph shows partial decomposed remains. This is retained as a dead-remains encounter and is not described as a live seal.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/34235740
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One live seal head is visible in water; source attribution is Harbor Seal.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/192221806
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photographs reviewed. Many Grey Seals are hauled out; count remains unset.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/346433
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Several Harbor Seals, at least five, are visible on a rocky island; structured count remains unset. Observer colony wording is not treated as a population claim.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37047047; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37047048
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist pages and photographs reviewed. Same observer and Monhegan outing: one photo shows a Harbor Seal on rock and the other a Grey Seal in water. Grouped as one encounter because the taxon IDs conflict and total count is uncertain; no subspecies claim and no photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/139144
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Original public page gives exact day 9 August 2012 despite API obscured-date flag. A Harbor Seal is on a ledge with part of another seal visible; count unset. Long-running observation notes are not treated as a population or named-individual claim.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2855647
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One Grey Seal is visible in water.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/84653169
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Many Harbor Seals are on rocks; original public page date 30 July is retained despite UTC/API display that may appear as 31 July.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4925070
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. At least three Grey Seal heads are visible in water; count remains unset.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/268380
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Many Harbor Seals are hauled out on rocks. Photograph credit is Claudia Lanpher and no media is uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/192220774
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One Grey Seal is swimming. An eBird checklist in the note is secondary only.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/221887266; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/221887591
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist pages and photographs reviewed. Same observer outing: one photo shows one Grey Seal hauled on sand and the other many Grey Seals on Monomoy beach. Grouped as one outing; count unset and no subspecies claim.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/59169901
Observation: One Grey Seal was photographed swimming near Chatham.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/142210; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/142219
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist pages and photographs reviewed. Same observer and small coastal island, 12 minutes apart: one photo shows two Harbor Seals in water and the other one hauled on rock. Grouped as one outing because total distinct individuals are uncertain; count unset. No photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/391253699
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. At least three Harbor Seals are among coastal rocks, but partial/distant animals make exact count unreliable. No photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6205975; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6205976
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist pages and photographs reviewed. Nearly identical rock scenes each show one dark seal; these are grouped as one outing because the same animal is possible. Source IDs disagree between Grey and Harbor Seal, so species and count remain unset. No photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73781
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Multiple Harbor Seals are on a low rock; count is unset. No photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/58739
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Observer notes describe about 18 harbor seals hauled out at John H. Chafee Nature Preserve, while the photograph shows only a subset; structured count remains unset. No photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73774
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Several Harbor Seals are on a rock in water; count is unset. No photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/18643983
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One Harbor Seal is swimming; observer note confirms place and species. No photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/36713462
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Two Harbor Seals are resting on a low rock in water; no subspecies claim and no photo uploaded.
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Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4574257
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One Harbor Seal is curled on a rock. Resting posture is insufficient to establish death; condition remains uncertain and no photo is uploaded.