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Strange happenings in Morris Creek




The first time it happened I attributed to just a fluke that I had happened
to see it.  That was Tuesday.  The second time I saw it was today and now I
am downright puzzled.

"It" is ticks on birds.  Tuesday I found a dead Pine Siskin in the yard,
only to find the bird still bleeding - but not from a traumatic wound.  The
Pine Siskin had a large tick in its crown that had broken.  Today I found a
Dark-eyed Junco that had not one but three large ticks - one on its crown,
one near an ear opening and one just behind an eye.  

Terres breifly discusses ticks on birds, pointing out that they tend to be
found on ground-dwelling birds, tend to concentrate themselves near the eyes
and on the head (where the bird can't reach to preen) and apparently don't
do much harm to the birds as a general rule.  He mentions that a heavily
infested nest of falcon nestlings was lost once and their deaths were
attributed to starvation and anemia from the numerous ticks on their bodies.  

As a rehabber, I was taught to treat blood loss as bordering on major
catastrophe and to stop it immediately.  Songbirds weighing just a few grams
can't afford to lose much blood.  

So my question is: is it possible these birds died due indirectly to the
ticks, perhaps froze to death or starved to death in a weakened condition or
perhaps shock from blood loss?  The Pine Siskin was a bit skinny but I've
seen worse.  The Junco was a bit underweight but nothing near "hatchet-keeled".

As active as my feeders are, I generally find a few dead birds during the
winter.  Some freeze to death; some die of broken necks and/or head trauma
when they fly into something (running from the Sharp-shinned who winters in
our woods, I suspect).  But finding birds infested with ticks is a new twist.  

Anybody else seen this?  Banders?  Rehabbers?

Donna Bailey
Winnsboro, SC
e-mail: dsbailey@conterra.com
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey
     "Where are the Birds?  Migration across South Carolina"
URL: http://www.conterra.com/dsbailey/audubon	
    "Columbia Audubon Society"