I am not a parasitologist.
But, apart from domestic animals
and humans I would say that the ectoparasites of swallows and martins are the
best known of all the animals. There have been heaps of papers on the ectoparasites on swallows and
martins and their effects particularly on brood size and sexual selection, but
also other life cycle traits and ecology. About 5 articles can be found in the
following book, which I bought at academic remainders a few years ago.
Loye, J. E. and Zuk, M (eds)
(1991). Bird Parasite Interactions: Ecology, evolution and behaviour.
Oxford university press, Oxford.
As
it is quite old now you could do a search for Marlene Zuk or A Moller. Or
just do a general web search using key
words.
The parasites you explain sound
like mites but could be lice, did they have 6 or 8 legs? These are the most common bird ecto parasites.
When I was helping with a research project on rosellas the birds also often had these annoying flat flies
on them that were almost impossible to kill. You had to use your nail and cut
them to kill them. Luckily they didn't seem to survive on humans. I assume the
parasite you mention wasn't a fly.
Anyway I know this doesn't help
much.
Benj Whitworth
Hi all,
At 1:00 pm today, I was driving along Parkwood Road, near the Belconnen
golf course, when about six small birds swooped across in front of me, about a
metre above the road. Unfortunately, Splat! I hit one.
I stopped and extracted a dead Welcome Swallow from the grille. I
parted the breast feathers and promptly dropped it because there were several
little creepy-crawly critters ranging through the plumage, close to the
skin.
Then I parted the plumage with the blade of my pocket knife and inspected
about four creepie-crawlies. They were quite flat things, probably less than a
millimetre thick. They were of roundish shape, about three millimetres in
diameter and light brown.
I went to the console box where I usually keep plastic bags and elastic
bands. Occasionally, I pick up a freshly-killed bird on the road, pop it into a
plastic bag, stick it in the freezer and phone CSIRO to see if they would
like to have it.
But when I got there, the box was bare, so I left the swallow in the
roadside weeds. No doubt it will provide sustenance for the local ants.
Normally, I don't mind sharing the cab with a fresh road-kill, but I needed a
plastic bag in this instance because I didn't want the creepies crawling about
in the seat covers. Sometimes, if a road-kill isn't leaky, you can wrap it
in several sheets of The Canberra Times. To this end, I hope
The Times retains its broadsheet format.
OK, so are there any experts on avian ectoparasites out there?
Bye
John K. Layton.
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