Volume 18, Number 10—October 2012
Research
Wild Birds and Urban Ecology of Ticks and Tick-borne Pathogens, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2005–2010
Table 1
Birds sampled for presence of ticks in southwestern suburban Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2005–2010*
| Bird | Migratory status | Total no. examined | Proportion infested | No. birds infested with |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haemaphysalis leporispalustris |
Ixodes dentatus |
I. scapularis |
||||||||
| Larvae | Nymphs | Larvae | Larvae | Nymphs | ||||||
| American goldfinch | B, M | 363 | ||||||||
| American redstart† | B, M | 38 | 0.03 | |||||||
| American robin | B, M | 1,049 | 0.01 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Baltimore oriole | B, M | 31 | ||||||||
| Barn swallow | B, M | 7 | ||||||||
| Black and white warbler | NB, M | 9 | ||||||||
| Black-capped chickadee | B, NM | 25 | ||||||||
| Blue jay | B, M | 22 | 0.09 | 2 | ||||||
| Brown-headed cowbird | B, M | 65 | ||||||||
| Brown thrasher | B, M | 12 | ||||||||
| Cedar waxwing | B, M | 16 | ||||||||
| Chipping sparrow | B, M | 24 | ||||||||
| Common grackle | B, M | 105 | 0.03 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Common yellowthroat | B, M | 8 | ||||||||
| Dark-eyed junco | NB, M | 8 | ||||||||
| Downy woodpecker | B, M | 50 | ||||||||
| Eastern wood-pewee | B, M | 5 | ||||||||
| Empidonax spp. flycatchers | B, M | 27 | ||||||||
| European starling | B, M | 141 | 0.01 | 1 | ||||||
| Fox sparrow | NB, M | 5 | ||||||||
| Gray catbird | B, M | 429 | 0.01 | 3 | 3 | |||||
| Gray-cheeked thrush | NB, M | 18 | 0.11 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Hermit thrush | B, M | 5 | ||||||||
| House finch | B, M | 157 | ||||||||
| House sparrow | B, NM | 2,097 | 0.01 | 25 | 4 | |||||
| House wren | B, M | 57 | 0.02 | 1 | ||||||
| Indigo bunting | B, M | 19 | ||||||||
| Least flycatcher | B, M | 5 | ||||||||
| Lincoln's sparrow | NB, M | 5 | ||||||||
| Magnolia warbler | NB, M | 19 | ||||||||
| Mourning dove | B, M | 63 | ||||||||
| Mourning warbler | NB, M | 5 | ||||||||
| Nashville warbler | NB, M | 7 | ||||||||
| Northern cardinal | B, NM | 311 | 0.04 | 9 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Northern flicker | B, M | 10 | ||||||||
| Northern waterthrush | NB, M | 44 | ||||||||
| Orchard oriole | B, M | 4 | ||||||||
| Ovenbird | B, M | 41 | 0.10 | 4 | ||||||
| Palm warbler | NB, M | 6 | ||||||||
| Red-eyed vireo | B, M | 11 | ||||||||
| Red-winged blackbird | B, M | 191 | 0.01 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Song sparrow | B, M | 228 | 0.07 | 13 | 6 | 1 | ||||
| Swainson's thrush‡ | NB, M | 131 | 0.08 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Tennessee warbler | NB, M | 9 | ||||||||
| Tree swallow | B, M | 14 | ||||||||
| Veery | B, M | 8 | ||||||||
| Warbling vireo | B, M | 35 | ||||||||
| White-crowned sparrow | NB, M | 11 | ||||||||
| White-throated sparrow | NB, M | 61 | 0.02 | 1 | ||||||
| Willow flycatcher | B, M | 63 | ||||||||
| Wilson's warbler | NB, M | 8 | ||||||||
| Yellow warbler | B, M | 34 | ||||||||
| Yellow-bellied flycatcher | NB, M | 6 | 0.17 | 1 | ||||||
| Yellow-rumped warbler | NB, M | 26 | ||||||||
| All | 6,197§ | 0.02 | 64 | 28 | 6 | 6 | 5 | |||
*Empidonax spp. flycatchers that could not be identified are considered at the genus level. Numbers of birds infested by larvae and nymphs of 3 tick species are indicated. Common names conform to species as specified by the American Ornithologist Union. B, confirmed breeding in Chicago region; M, migratory; NB, non-breeder in Chicago region; NM, non-migratory. Blank spaces mean none infested.
†One American redstart infested with a single Amblyomma longirostre nymph.
‡One Swainson's thrush infested with a single A. nodosum larva.
§This total includes 49 unlisted captured birds from the following species: American woodcock, American tree sparrow, black-billed cuckoo, black-throated blue warbler, blackpoll warbler, brown creeper, Carolina wren, Canada warbler, Eastern towhee, Eurasian collared–dove, great crested flycatcher, golden-crowned kinglet, hairy woodpecker, killdeer, marsh wren, olive-sided flycatcher, red-breasted nuthatch, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-crowned kinglet, savannah sparrow, scarlet tanager, swamp sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, and wood thrush. The sample size for each of these species was <5, and none of the birds harbored ticks.