THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 1995 TAG: 9503280235
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
A nest that could have temporarily delayed a $25 million road-widening project on Interstate 64 probably belonged to squirrels and will not affect construction, according to agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A volunteer and a special agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service checked the nest Monday and found nothing to indicate that it was occupied by a federally protected bird of prey.
The special agent then gave the Virginia Department of Transportation permission to proceed with the project.
The nest, according to wildlife officers, is probably home to unprotected squirrels.
Or was home to squirrels. Reese Lukei, a volunteer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who helped check out the nest, couldn't be sure because there was none of the usual signs of a nest that was being used.
No debris from food was found at the base of the tree. There were no tiny fur pellets left by owls - no pieces of bone, no hair, no feathers - nothing except a broken bottle and a brown paper bag.
Lukei checked out the nest with a powerful telescope from across the road. He saw no signs of life.
If the nest had been occupied by owls, Lukei said, he would have seen the young. If it were an osprey nest, it would have been much bigger.
``Well,'' said Lukei, ``there's nothing here.''
Dan Hurt, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, later checked the nest and confirmed what Lukei had found. Hurt then gave the state Department of Transportation the ``green light'' to move ahead with the road project.
The agency had never officially blocked work. When a passing motorist spotted the nest and claimed he had seen an osprey nearby, the contractors and state decided to work on other sections of the project until the nest could be checked out by experts.
Monday was the first time that wildlife officials saw the nest.
More than three miles of wooded median are being leveled to make space for a wider Interstate 64 between the Indian River Road exits and the Greenbrier exists in Chesapeake. The project began in February and is expected to be finished in October 1996.
State transportation officials said they were not happy about leveling the median woods. But because homes were built so close to the side of the road, it was the only alternative to moving families.
Osprey, red-tailed hawks and owls are federally protected birds of prey whose homes cannot be disturbed without special permission from wildlife officials.
If the nest had been active, wildlife officials had several options. They could have moved the eggs and nest to another location; they could have incubated the eggs and raised the chicks on their own; or they could have left the nest alone until after the young were able to leave. This final option probably would have delayed the road-widening project for an undetermined period of time.
Lukei didn't limit himself to the one nest. He found two others nearby, both of which, he said, once belonged to squirrels.
But there was wildlife still around. As Lukei and VDOT project inspector Clarence L. Hasty got off of the Indian River Road West exit, a red-tailed hawk was perched by the side of the road. As Lukei checked out the suspected nest with his high-powered scope, a turkey buzzard hovered overhead.
``They're here,'' said Lukei, pointing then at the empty nest, ``but they're just not here.'' by CNB