Open Pollinated Birdhouse Gourds

Last year I grew Birdhouse Gourds. The seeds I planted all looked alike...the typical gourd/pumpkin seed shape. This year, I've taken seeds from two dried gourds; one looks like the typical seed, and one is shaped like a flat peg with a slight notch at the large end. This has me bamboozled! How am I getting different seeds out of gourds that look alike on the outside? Has anyone ever seen a gourd seed shaped like I've described? I hope someone can help me! I'm starting to feel like a gourd head!! Here's a pic of the "different" one described above.

It kinda reminds me of the snake gourd seeds A. sent me early this year (ok, could've been late last year, AND they could have been from Jo!). I'll check my seeds when I get home from work . . .

Ok, let's see how these compare. The top one is a bushel, lower left is snake (from Jo, by the way!), and lower right is swan.

This message was edited Oct 6, 2008 8:46 PM

Hmm, very interesting reply, Sy!! All the ones you posted in the pic look a lot like mine. Do you think it's even remotely possible that I got one of these other gourd seeds from a Birdhouse gourd? The one these came out of was a bottle gourd. Forgot to mention that my BH gourd seeds were mixed, which does not include Snake or Swan. Thank you very much for your reply!