That animal is ticked off
Wednesday August 04th 2010, 11:24 pm
Filed under: Wildlife

Several times I saw small groups of the most striking black-and-white bird in Utah, all dressed up and formal in  tux and tail (a really long tail!) and I knew that I should know what it was but couldn’t remember. I wished for my new Sibley books.

Curious.  I wonder if the people working on Lyme disease know about magpies eating the ticks right off the deer and moose?


6 Comments so far
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As a tick-borne disease researcher, I can assure you that we’re aware of tick removal behaviors and mechanisms. 🙂

Comment by anonymous 08.05.10 @ 5:48 am

I thought you were talking about a magpie. Terrible pests around a farm, but protected because they are the national bird of Mexico. They run off the smaller birds every chance they get– but they sure are pretty, with all that shiny black.

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 08.05.10 @ 7:45 am

we have magpies that visit our yard — we refer to the pair as Heckle and Jeckle and our dog hates them — she’ll run out into the yard, hair up in a ridge down the middle of her back, barking like crazy every time they show up

I praise her when she does just because I know they are part of what eats my garden seed every spring!

Comment by Bev 08.05.10 @ 7:57 am

Beautiful birds, magpies, but from what I hear, they are definitely of the noisy and obnoxious type. Jays in tuxes.

Comment by Karen L 08.05.10 @ 1:36 pm

Now that’s a natural pesticide I can agree with!

Comment by Carol 08.05.10 @ 5:43 pm

Interesting. We’ve had a surprisingly low-tick year.

Comment by Channon 08.06.10 @ 12:25 pm



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