THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 1, 1997 TAG: 9702010299
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: 53 lines
Word apparently has got around among birds that Norfolk's Ghent is the place to hang out.
A great horned owl - commonly called a hoot owl - has taken a roost in a 30-foot tree in a back yard within a crow's flight of the city's skyline.
Largest of owls throughout most of Virginia, it is rare anywhere, especially near downtown and a busy thoroughfare.
Human neighbors in Ghent will welcome it, no doubt, thanks to its skill in ridding an area of rodents.
Females among owls tend to be larger than the males, and this one is of a size to earn the feminine name of Solinda, says reader Cheryl.
She withholds her own last name, lest, through it, people figure out the owl's whereabouts and come running with field glasses and cameras, and spook it.
Owls and hawks generally build and nest this time of year. Let the owl get settled, then the Chamber of Commerce folks can put it on the Norfolk Tour.
``It's a wise bird that knows where to roost,'' they can advertise.
Something subtle, like that.
Every evening at 5:35, the owl lifts her left wing and stretches it, then lifts the right wing, stretches that one, bobs her head twice and takes off for a brief flight. She hunts by night.
From a porch in the back yard, Cheryl watches as the owl turns and walks along the limb.
Facing Cheryl, she stares her large yellow eyes that take in everything, the little white V-mark at her neck and the rest of her body heavily striped in grayish brown and white.
``It's eerie to see,'' Cheryl said, ``and I feel blessed to have such a beautiful creature near me.''
She named her Solly, for wise Solomon, then lengthened it to Solinda to include Linda, a colleague well versed in the ways of owls, who shares the lore with her.
The crows, who abound these days in the downtown, have discovered the owl. Between 8:30 and 10 a.m. they flock and clamor around Solinda.
``She does nothing, absolutely nothing, just suffers them until they leave, and then she stretches or shakes herself a bit as if to say, `Thank goodness, those jerks have gone!' '' Cheryl said.
Now that we have chronicled Solinda's arrival, let me remind you that a memorial service for Molly the cat, who died Jan. 11, will take place today at noon in Norfolk's Van Wyck Branch Library across from Maury High School. Molly graced the library 13 years.
``I could spend all of half an hour thanking everybody responsible for cards, letters and donations,'' Van Wyck Librarian Sherry Clem said Friday.