On Sunday the staff at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel were all excited
about a bicephalic gull that one of the patrol people had seen perched on the
railing about 3 miles east of Virginia Beach. He said the one head looked
normal while the other was off to the side and drooped lower. Fish and
reptiles are sometimes able to live for quite some time with two heads but
the conflict of flying would be tough. I had a 2-headed snake for a while and
it seemed there was quite a struggle as to which way the body should move. If
anybody relocates the bird try to get some photos. This seemed to be a
sincere observation but the poor guy was taking quite a razzing from his
coworkers. There was still an impressive show of scoters (we only saw 1
White-winged Scoter) and the female Harlequin Duck was still present. - my
students are doing a winter Owl survey and last week caught 3 Long-eared Owls
(plus one D.O.R. in Frederick Co. and one sighting in Warren Co.) - it might
be a good time for owlers to go looking - the Long-eared Owls were very vocal
and two of the birds had extensive brood patches - we banded two of the owls
at Shenandoah River Sate Park and the other was on our campus in Middletown -
the Middletown bird was especially exciting, since starting in 1976 we
planted a bunch of pines to attract Long-eared Owls to our campus - this was
our first success on campus - we have continued to catch quite a few Saw-whet
Owls all winter - Rob
Robert C. Simpson , Professor of Natural Resources
Program Head for Natural Resources Curriculum
Program Head for Outdoor and Nature Photography Careers Certificate
Contact for information on: Field Biology, General Ecology, Wildlife and
Fisheries, Habitat and Food Plant Identification, Special Studies in Wildlife
Field Techniques, Birds, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, Mushrooms
Edible and Otherwise, Plants and Nature Photography.
email: lfsimpr@xxxxxxxx
course websites: http://www.lfcc.edu/classes/simpson/
Phone: 540 868 7206
Fax: 540 868 7100
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