May is.....

A) A month too busy to post blogs!

B) Lyme Disease Awareness Month. Many of you will be aware of the challenges of dealing with Lyme Disease which I have shared over several posts. If you haven't seen them, you can check some of them out here, here, and here.

Black-legged (a.k.a. Deer) Tick

I periodically get questions about LD testing and such. In my opinion, current LD testing in Canada is hardly worth going through, since the spirochete which causes LD can move around, and isn't always detected in the blood, therefore giving a potentially false result. If you find a Black-legged Tick (a.k.a. Deer Tick) embedded in you, carefully remove the tick and keep it in a hard plastic container. An old film cassette container works well. (I have had ticks chew their way out of a zip lock bag!) Take the tick in to your local health unit to be sent away for testing, but keep in mind that it can take five weeks or more before you get the results back. In the mean time, carefully monitor the tick bite site to see if any rash appears (that may take a week or more) and also monitor yourself to determine if you experience other first stage symptoms such as chills, fever, aches and pains that you might normally associate with getting the flu. If those occur, see a doctor asap, and hope that the doctor is Lyme Literate enough to give you an antibiotic.

Also keep in mind that not all Black-legged Ticks carry LD....some experts suggest that fewer than 40% do.....so even if you are bitten, you might escape contracting LD. The best advice is to be aware and be cautious, which I have outlined in some of those previously written posts.

C) A great time for birding. I haven't been out as often as I would like for birding.....what birder has :-).....due to energy levels related to Lyme Disease, as well as other commitments which unfortunately coincided with days when birds were most plentiful. But I have been out to enjoy some great times with birds, and other birders.

I noted this sub-adult Lesser Black-backed Gull during a recent visit to Wheatley Harbour.

On one of my times checking out the Erieau waterfront, I came across this Red-throated Loon. It was quite cooperative, at times popping up from a dive too close to focus! As I was processing the photos on the computer at the end of the day, I noted that one of its eyes seemed to have been injured, which may have explained it being so approachable.

One time along the Erieau Rail Trail, I saw a Sora. Often when one encounters a Sora, the best view you get, if any, might be like this:

 Or this:

 But on this occasion, the bird was quite willing to come out in the open. I watched and photographed it for the better part of an hour, and when I left, it was still out. These images are hardly cropped at all.

Songbirds, and warblers in particular, are a highlight of the spring migration. I've been able to catch up to most of the usual warbler migrants, but not all that many have provided the kind of photo op that a photographer would like, since the birds are often high up in the trees searching for insects to replenish their energy so they can go on the next leg of their journey.

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackpoll

Black-throated Green Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Of course it is always a highlight to see nesting Prothonotary Warbler, an endangered species in Canada which has its Canadian stronghold at Rondeau.

The most common warbler by far is Yellow Warbler.

Colourful non-warbler highlights include:

Scarlet Tanager

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 Just yesterday, I managed to catch up to both Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Black-billed Cuckoo, although the former was the only one I got decent photos of. Note the distinctive yellow bill, the rusty patch on the wing, and the bold black and white pattern on the undertail, none of which occur on the Black-billed.

D) Nesting season. Some species have been underway for weeks, as this recently hatched Killdeer would indicate.

 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are busily nesting. This one below was building its nest when I caught this adult heading off for some more nesting material.

 On a recent hike along Spicebush Trail, I noted a peculiar lump on the branch of an American Beech tree. It is a Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest, barely 4 cm in diameter. Hopefully I will be posting some nest action photos in the near future.

Birds aren't the only types of wildlife nesting. When you see a large Snapping Turtle out crossing roads, well away from water, you know it is a female looking for a place to lay her eggs.

E) Orchid season. One of the first orchids to appear is now out. This is Showy Orchid (Galearis spectabilis), an uncommon orchid of rich woodlands. I keep an eye on a small colony of them at Rondeau, and normally they begin to flower on about May 21. However the exceptionally warm weather earlier in the week brought this one to flowering a bit ahead of schedule.

Concerned about Lyme Disease? You should be!

Tick season is fast approaching, and in some parts of Ontario it is already here! The milder weather we've had recently has prompted ticks to emerge.....not a lot yet, but one local birder found a deer tick (a.k.a Black-legged Tick)  on his clothing just a few days ago.

Once the weather warms up to stay in the next few weeks, the presence of deer ticks will be all too common in natural areas. And not just natural areas.....they can be almost anywhere there is long grass, shrubs, etc. For example even if you are an expert golfer, chances are you have lost a ball in the rough....where ticks may be lurking. You don't have to be in those areas yourself. If you have a pet that roams around in such areas the ticks can be transferred to you or a member of your family.

I've made several blog posts about Lyme Disease, describing the 6 times I have contracted it over the years. You can read a bit about my experiences by checking out these at post #1, post #2, post #3 and post #4.

Unfortunately the diagnosis and treatment for Lyme Disease is all too poorly known. It is controversial at best, and the leading health authorities are not always up to speed on the issue. There is an attempt to establish a Lyme Action Plan (Framework) by the federal government and partners, which would seem to be all well and good. There is a draft plan out for review right now. However it has little action and no funding associated with it, so what is the point? The bottom line is that it does not provide any meaningful action towards protecting Canadians from the effects of Lyme Disease.

If you are concerned about this....and you should be if you spend any time out doors....then please take a moment to sign the petition for this draft Lyme Action Plan (Framework) to be rejected, and for the federal government to come up with something that will be effective.

You can read about this draft plan here. Please sign the petition.....if you ever contract Lyme Disease, you may be glad you did!

Passenger Pigeon, Japanese Barberry and.....Lyme Disease

September is the month when we mark the anniversary of an avian tragedy: it was on September 1, 1914, when the last remaining Passenger Pigeon died. A species that went from an estimated 3 billion to zero in the space of a human's lifetime. Not that the population was always so numerous....it was a species whose population was believed to fluctuate dramatically, as described in this article in Scientific American.

Passenger Pigeons (PAPI) fed on the seed produced by various trees in the eastern and mid-western forests, specifically acorns from various oaks, nuts from the American Beech as well as chestnuts from the American Chestnut. American Chestnut was once one of the most common trees in eastern North American forests, but a serious blight that arrived in the early part of last century devastated the forest of that species. It is a legally endangered species due to its extremely limited occurrence in Canada.

Open oak forests were particularly attractive to PAPI, since not only did the acorns provide a valuable source of food, but the large and sturdy spreading branches were safe places to roost and/or build their nests.

In this first photo is a mix of acorns of the Red Oak and beech nuts of the American Beech.

 This next image is a close-up of an opened chestnut bur, showing the seeds in side the husk.

American Chestnut leaves

White Oak

These tree species are known to produce large quantities of seed for one or two years, and then very small quantities of seed for the next few years. Years of high seed production are known as 'mast' years. If several tree species produce mast in successive years, it might result in very high production of young PAPI causing the population to get to the estimated 3 billion. But that wouldn't last, and the productivity would then decline. This process is certainly beneficial for the trees. If the seed production maintained a consistent level over the years, those wildlife species that fed on them would maximize their production, and most seed would likely be consumed. By having most years of seed production at lower levels, the wildlife species would remain at a relatively lower level, so that when seed production increased briefly, more of it would survive to germinate and produce an age class of trees for the future.

Regardless, when the population of PAPI was reduced to zero, it resulted in a lot of seed not being consumed. And this was a boon for other species of wildlife that fed on those seeds that would normally be competing with the PAPI, such as White-tailed Deer, squirrels, mice, Wild Turkey, etc.

The numbers of those remaining species of wildlife would likely have increased substantially, now that there weren't a billion or more PAPI to compete with.

Japanese Barberry
Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) was introduced to North America in the late 1800s as an ornamental shrub. It leafs out early and has many flowers. It also has sharp spines along its stems.

It is a prolific seed producer, and birds love the bright red berries. But when the birds travel and defecate elsewhere, the seeds are spread far and wide. The sharp spines ensure that browsing by deer is minimal, so there are virtually no controls on the spread of this species. As a result, Japanese Barberry is one of the more insidious invasive species in our eastern forests. It is especially distinctive in the fall when their leaves turn a deep red.

The density at which Japanese Barberry can grow unchecked in a forest is great for mice! Their normal predators, such as owls, hawks and foxes will not penetrate the dense, prickly stand of barberry, so it is a safe haven. Numbers of mice where barberry is plentiful are known to be higher than areas where barberry is low to non-existent.

And that brings us to the unfortunate result of the loss of PAPI and the invasion of barberry. You see, mice are critical hosts to ticks, both the American Dog Tick (a.k.a. Wood Tick) and the Black-legged Tick (a.k.a Deer Tick). It is the latter species that is the prime vector of the spirochete which causes Lyme Disease. I have written several blog posts on Lyme Disease, specifically related to my several experiences with it. The most informative one can be read here.

Deer Tick

Ticks thrive where there are high populations of their deer and mice hosts. The blood meal, which is critical for the development of both nymph and adult ticks, is readily available from each of those mammal species when the host populations are high.  Also, where there is a dense stand of barberry, the relative humidity remains higher, which is also beneficial for the ticks.

It takes ticks two years to reach the adult stage when they will produce young. It is interesting to note that two years following a year of mast production of the acorns and seeds mentioned at the outset of this post, there is a greater abundance of ticks.

In simplistic terms, now that the billion or so PAPI are long gone, a high production of acorns and beech nuts attracts greater numbers of deer and mice. Mice are predominant hosts to the nymphal stage of the ticks, and deer are hosts to the adult stage of the ticks. So two years after the mast year, are more ticks, and the greater the chance of encountering a tick capable of transmitting Lyme Disease!

On a related note, I have read where in rural areas, free-range chickens, guinea fowl etc, are great at controlling ticks in their immediate area. It is possible that Wild Turkeys have a similar effect, as they feed on numerous small vertebrates and invertebrates alike. Wild Turkeys were extirpated from southwestern Ontario many decades ago, but beginning in 1984 were successfully re-introduced in several areas of the province. A decade or so after their initial re-introduction, saw Wild Turkeys move in to Rondeau Provincial Park, and they seem to be doing well. Perhaps they will help control ticks in areas of the park that they spend much of their time in.

 There are many sources of information on parts of what I have written. Some of the more useful references I found and used include:

1. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/3-billion-to-zero-what-happened-to-the-passenger-pigeon/
2.  https://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/invasive-species/JapaneseBarberryBCP.pdf
3. http://omnilearn.net/esacourse/pdfs/lyme_disease.pdf

The last one was particularly interesting, and is a pdf of an article that appeared in Birding magazine several years ago, entitled "Passenger Pigeons, Lyme Disease and Us: the unintended consequences of the death of a species" by David E. Blockstein. I couldn't find the article in the Birding archives, but managed to locate it via this online source.

Important message if you spend time outside!

Ticks are out. Not just the presumably harmless Wood Tick (a.k.a. Dog Tick) but the really nasty Deer Tick (a.k.a. Black-legged Tick), which is the prime vector for transmitting Lyme Disease. Wood Ticks are the larger of the two; in fact they are several times larger than the Deer Tick.

Wood Tick

Deer Tick

Both images show the adults. The scary part is that the nymphs, which can also transmit Lyme Disease, are considerably smaller. In fact a really young nymph of the Deer Tick is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

Size is one way to tell them apart, but if you look closely, you can see that the coloration and pattern on the dorsal (back) side is different as well.

I have contracted Lyme Disease at least 6 times over the course of my tramping around places like Rondeau for more than 40 years. I posted a fairly extensive blog post about it a year ago, and you can read about it here.

I made a follow-up post a little later, which is shown here.

In some jurisdictions, May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. To learn more about what the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation has to offer in terms of science, awareness and support, check out their link.

Enjoy the outdoors, but be safe!

Lyme disease.....an update

Some readers may remember a post I wrote in early May of this year [Tick Talk....it's Lyme Tyme], where I described the experiences I have had in dealing with Lyme Disease for almost 40 years. I contracted Lyme Disease (LD) again in late April of this year, for the 6th time, which prompted me to share my experiences and concerns with anyone who is interested. In case you missed it and are interested, you can read about it via this link.

There are two types of ticks that humans are most likely to encounter in Ontario: the tiny Black-legged Tick, a.k.a. Deer Tick, which is believed to be the main, or even only, vector of the spirochete which causes LD, as shown in this first image.

And the American Dog Tick, a.k.a. Wood Tick shown next, which is at least twice the size of the Black-legged Tick:

Note the way that the tick is situated on a blade of grass, with its front legs outstretched waiting for an animal to pass by. There are tiny hooks on the end of the front legs, which will snag the fur of a mammal, the feathers of a bird, or the pant leg of a human.

The Black-legged Tick that hitched a ride on my clothing was one that I missed in spite of my usually vigilant checks for ticks which I do after knowingly hiking in their territory. Not all Black-legged Ticks carry LD, fortunately, as I expect I have been bitten in the past but did not end up getting LD. This time, however, I was not so lucky and its bite on my lower leg resulted in the usual first stage symptoms that are very similar to feeling like one is coming down with the flu (e.g. joint and muscle aches, tiredness, fever). After a few days this bull's-eye rash appeared. A rash resulting from a LD carrying tick is not itchy, but may feel slightly warm, which this one did. All of these are classic characteristics of a recent encounter with a tick passing along LD.

I still had the tick, so I took it to the local public health unit. There the staff person agreed that it was likely a case of LD, and shortly after I went to the doctor, who also agreed with my diagnosis, and so I was put on three weeks of antibiotics.

The local health unit representative sent the tick away to the lab that is authorized to test for LD, but she advised me that it would take several weeks to get the results.

A few weeks later, I got a call from this same health unit representative who passed along the results from the lab. Their testing concluded that the tick I submitted did not test positive for LD!!!

In some ways, I wasn't surprised. I have read from people quite knowledgeable about the nuances of LD that the labs in Canada only test for one strain of the spirochete. Unfortunately, there are several strains that can also result in LD that are missed by this overly simplistic testing process, which presumably is what happened in my case.

So the bottom line is that if you suspect you may have contracted LD, at this time it is not enough to only expect the medical establishment to properly diagnose it for you. Learn all you can from sources that are considered reliable and go armed with the information as you seek treatment. It is a lot easier to treat while it is at the first stage and in your blood stream than once it becomes established in organs and systems where it is a lot more difficult. One of the best sources I know of for this information is from the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation .

Tick Talk....it's Lyme Tyme!

If you spend any time in the out-of-doors in southern Ontario this season, this blog post may be one of the most important things you read if you value your health! And not just if you spend time in southern Ontario, but many other parts of Ontario, Canada and the US.

Spring is here, finally, and the weather is much more enjoyable to be outside. But some of the critters that inhabit natural areas have been awaiting spring as well, and they may be hazardous to your health. Ticks need a blood meal to assist in their development, and before they produce young.

Ticks can occur in long grassy and shrubby areas:

They can also occur in more heavily wooded areas:

There are actually at least 17 kinds of ticks found in southern Ontario, but the two that are most likely to be found on humans are: the Wood Tick (a.k.a. American Dog Tick) and the Black-legged Tick (a.k.a. Deer Tick). Technically they are not insects, which have six legs. They are Invertebrates, as are insects, but part of the Arachnid group which includes spiders; members of this group have eight legs.

This first photo is a close-up of a Black-legged Tick (Deer Tick).

If you want to get a better idea of its size, note the next photo.

This full sized adult's body is only about two millimetres in length. And the young, called nymphs and which also feed on blood, are a fraction of this size!

An adult Wood Tick, on the other hand, is several times the size of the Deer Tick. Note this next photo of a Wood Tick, and compare the colouration and pattern with the Deer Tick.

Note also the way that the tick clings to a blade of grass, with its front legs stretched out. They have little hooks on the end of the front legs to be able to grab onto something as it passes by. That something could be a mouse, a deer or a bird......or you. Once it grabs onto a passing creature, it starts to search for some way to get to the skin, so it can attach itself by its mouth-parts and begin to bite into the skin looking for a blood vessel. Common locations are at a spot where there is a restriction of clothing, such as at the waist or behind the knee, but it may latch onto the skin at any point, even at the hairline on the back of the neck. Wherever the attachment happens to be, it will feed for as long as it can, usually for several hours. By engorging on the victim's blood, the tick will swell to several times its previously flattened size. Fully engorged, it can look like a small grape! At that point, it will detach itself from the victim, and drop to the ground and use the protein in its blood meal to grow or produce young.

In many cases of a tick bite, nothing will happen. In fact Wood Ticks are not known to be vectors of Lyme Disease (LD) at all, only the Deer Tick. (Having said that, there is concern by some that other biting invertebrates including Wood Ticks which bite a host critter carrying LD may spread the disease, but nothing is conclusive yet.) Not even all Deer Tick bites will do damage. However some ticks do carry the spirochete that when transmitted via its bite, will result in the victim getting LD.

If you happen to get bitten by a Deer Tick carrying the LD spirochete, things may then become quite interesting, but not in a good way.

First stage symptoms typically result in the victim feeling like they are coming down with the flu.....e.g. tired, fatigue, sore and aching muscles. These are telltale symptoms, especially if it isn't a normal season for getting the flu. A more conclusive indication of dealing with LD is noticing a rash. It isn't normally itchy, but it may feel warm. It may take on different appearances, but usually will spread to become several centimetres in diameter and then start to clear in the middle, resulting in some form of a 'bull's-eye' rash. If it occurs in an area of the body that isn't visible to the person, one could easily miss it. It is believed that only 30-40% of LD tick bites result in a bull's-eye rash, but that low % may be because by the time a person gets properly assessed, the rash may have disappeared on its own, or it may occur in an area that is not visible. Regardless, don't rely on the presence of or lack of a bull's-eye rash to determine whether you have LD.....the flu-like symptoms are more reliable.

I have had the misfortune to have been bitten over the years by a LD carrying Deer Tick on at least 6 occasions. The first time was in 1976, when LD was not on anyone's radar for the Rondeau area. In fact at that time it was believed that LD only occurred in the greater Long Point area. I know of several field biologist colleagues or acquaintances who contracted LD from field work at Long Point in the 1960s and early 1970s.

All of my occurrences were from my extensive field time at Rondeau. As the former Park Naturalist who spent as much time as possible roaming around the park looking to document and photograph plants, birds, herps and almost anything else of natural history interest, I was often well off the trail, and if anyone was likely to get LD, it was me. Rondeau has been a favourite place of mine to explore going back to the late 1960s and continues to this day. Every year I spend hundreds of hours in the field in my quest to discover, document and photograph Rondeau's biodiversity. In one sense, considering how much time I have spent roaming the wilds of Rondeau over the decades, it is surprising I have only contracted LD a few times. But that is okay......6 times is enough!

On four of these occasions, I noticed a rash. The photographer in me decided to take some photos to document my experience so here is what the rash can look like. The first image shows the bull's-eye rash on my forearm that I received in 2006. The very circular rash was quite pinkish, and as it expanded, eventually showed the clearing in the middle.

The next image shows the bull's-eye rash I received from a tick bite in 2013, on my side a bit above my belt line. The bull's-eye is still evident here, but isn't quite as classic as the previous one.

This third image brings us to 2015. Some readers will be aware of my ongoing interest to document some of Rondeau's largest trees which feature old growth characteristics. I've collected data to include the diameter, species and GPS location. And most of the almost 275 trees I've documented in the last couple of months have been well off the trail, not surprisingly. A little over two weeks ago I woke up one morning and found a Deer Tick which had attached itself to my lower leg. I consider myself reasonably vigilant when it comes to ticks, yet this one escaped my initial checks. However by the time I noticed it, it had been squashed, and all the blood that it had engorged on had been forced back under my skin. At first there was just the very dark centre which featured the regurgitated blood. But after a few days, the rash appeared. After a couple more days, the centre started to clear. If it hadn't been for the regurgitated blood at the centre of the tick bite, I am sure the entire centre would be clear.

I experienced the first stage symptoms of LD once again....extreme tiredness, aching muscles, feeling like I was getting the flu. A visit to the doctor was necessary, and now I am on antibiotics for three weeks. Taking antibiotics means, among other things, that I should avoid spending much time in the sun. So I must limit my time on bright sunny days and plan my outings, if I feel up to it, during the cooler morning or evening hours when the sun is not as intense. Also I try and cover up as much as possible. Hopefully by the time I am finished my current round of antibiotics, that will conclude this episode of LD.

It wasn't that long ago that LD was not recognized by the traditional medical establishment as occurring in Chatham-Kent. The standard response from many was that while it may occur in the US, it only occurred in Canada in very restricted areas (e.g. Long Point), and in very low numbers. In fact when I was diagnosed with it in 2004, it was a reportable disease, so shortly after I visited the doctor and got antibiotics, I got a follow-up telephone call from someone in the local health unit who told me "You know, Mr. Woodliffe, Lyme Disease doesn't occur in Chatham-Kent." Unbeknownst to this person, confirmation of LD carrying ticks in C-K had been published in a medical journal two years before! But at the time, the front line medical personnel here and in most other places in Canada, as directed by Health Canada, refused to believe that LD was as widespread as it really was.

Fortunately the level of knowledge and understanding of LD since then has increased dramatically across Canada. As unfortunate as it is in contracting LD, when celebrities get it (note the recent publicity concerning Avril Lavigne), the general public as well as the politicians and medical professionals will hopefully gain a better awareness and understanding of this serious disease. Awareness is far from ideal, but much improved from only a short time ago.

One of many complicating factors in assessing and treating LD is that if you catch it in its earliest stages, it is easily treatable with antibiotics, usually for a 3-4 week period. But if it is missed, even though the first stage symptoms can disappear and one feels like it is behind you, the spirochete remains, and can attack different systems in your body. Each person reacts differently, presumably depending on the initial health of the person. The condition of the immune system is undoubtedly a factor, as is where the spirochete ends up. In extreme cases, some people have become quite crippled in just a few weeks. In other cases, LD has been mis-diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and other serious conditions. Treatment for such conditions is very expensive, unlike the inexpensive antibiotic treatment for LD.

Deer Tick territory

 As mentioned earlier, I first contracted LD back in 1976. It went untreated, and almost immediately, even though the first stage symptoms had subsided, I noticed changes that should not have been happening to me. As a long distance runner and quite healthy individual at that time, I should not have been experiencing the many annoying things that were happening to me. Fortunately I did not deteriorate to the very serious level that some LD sufferers experience. I am not going to describe all of the frustrations I have had over the years in dealing with medical professionals and others with respect to dealing with LD. Suffice to say, it has not been a fun time! But at least treatment for first stage symptoms of LD has become much more available.

This post is not going to address the vast misunderstandings of assessing and treating LD. However improper treatment at the outset can result in Chronic Lyme Disease, which is extremely difficult to assess and treat.There have been many, many scientific and other articles written discussing the health science and politics around this challenging disease which can affect people in so many different ways. One of the most authoritative sources of information on the subject is the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation. Check out its extensive web site here.

The best way to deal with the potential risks of LD is to avoid it if you can. Don't just stay at home and avoid natural areas, but play it smart. Some recommendations are:

• wherever possible, avoid grassy, shrubby areas in areas where LD is known to occur;
• wear light coloured and unpatterned clothing so if a tick grasps it as you pass by, it is more easily spotted;
• stay on the trail to avoid brushing by shrubs or other vegetation where ticks may be;
• if you are hiking with a friend or co-worker, keep an eye out for ticks on each other;
• wear long pants, socks and shoes, not shorts and sandals;
• tuck pant legs into your socks. It may not be the most fashionable, but it will help keep any ticks on the outside and more easily spotted for removal before they do their dastardly deed;
• spray repellent with DEET around socks and shoes;
• there are some products available at outdoor stores which can be sprayed on clothing (not skin!)....the applied chemical on the clothing must be completely dry before you wear them. This can repel and kill ticks and other biting insects (e.g. chiggers) for several weeks, and last for at least a couple of washings;
• if you have a pet with you, they are just as vulnerable to ticks as you are, so should be checked as soon as possible when you leave a potentially infested area. Otherwise, they may share their ticks with you at a later date;
• when you come in from an area where Deer Ticks are known, do a tick check as soon as possible;
• put clothes you have been wearing in tick habitat, into a safe container, even directly into a washing machine. It is not advisable to leave them in the room that you will be sleeping in, as any ticks that may have been on your clothing might find you while you sleep!

If you find a tick attached to your skin, don't grab it by the abdomen, the largest body part, and pull it out. The head may break off, resulting in infection. If it has started to feed, grabbing the abdomen will squeeze the stomach contents into you. Instead use a pair of tweezers and grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and gently but firmly pull the tick until it releases its grip. Do not use nail polish, a burned match or anything like that to press on the body, as the tick will likely regurgitate the contents of its stomach, which may include the LD causing spirochete it is carrying. Some local health units have a tick awareness package, complete with removal instructions and even a tool to facilitate removing a tick.

This blog post is not intended to diagnose or treat Lyme Disease. The intent is to share my experiences with LD carrying Deer Ticks, hopefully raising awareness of the dangers of enjoying infested areas, while doing so relatively safely.

Walk in the middle of the trail to avoid vegetation where ticks may be lurking.

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month

Enjoy the out of doors, but be safe!!!!