22 Summer 2011 Applegater
Ticks
BIRDMAN
Bird guides know
best viewing spots
By teD a. gLoveR
One of the really great ways to
experience the beauty and the activities of
birds is through the services of a local guide
who is familiar with the birds in the area
and where they can be located.
On a recent trip to Mexico and
Central America, we were able to secure
the services of local people through contact
on the Internet. A guide met us in the
morning and took us around to watch the
local birds. By visiting local birding sites,
we were able to observe interesting native
species such as Yellow-winged Cacique,
Sinaloa Wren, Russet-crowned Motmot
and the beautiful Elegant Trogon.
These guides not only knew
good sites in the local area, but also could
give us interesting information about the
surrounding countryside and the people
who live there. They carry field guides with
them as well as viewing scopes, making
it unnecessary for us to haul those items
ourselves.
In Oregon we had the opportunity
to travel with a guide supplied by the
Nature Conservancy. This guide put
together a trip that started in Portland
near the airport. There were 14 of us on
the trip, including people from New York,
North Carolina and Texas. We visited sites
along the Oregon
Ted Glover
coast where we
saw Red-necked
Phalaropes, Wandering Tattlers, and Black
Oystercatchers. In the Newport area, we
visited Boiler Bay where we witnessed
hundreds of migrating Pacific Loons
going north toward their Alaskan breeding
grounds. At Yaquina Natural Area, we saw
thousands of Common Murres along with
Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants gathering
at the offshore islands to nest.
In eastern Oregon, our guide
knew just where to take us one early
morning to observe a gathering of about
30 Greater Sage Grouse. Guides know
the areas well and also communicate with
other local bird enthusiasts to keep up
with just where to find special species. We
visited a site for nesting Long-eared Owls
and another for a nesting Golden Eagle.
There are several ways to find a
good local guide. As I mentioned above,
the Internet is a source, as well a groups
such as the Nature Conservancy and the
Audubon Society. Take the time to do some
research and your trips bird watching will
be more fun.
Ted A. Glover • 541-846-0681
tedglover9@gmail.com
Photos, clockwise from top left:
Red-necked Phalarope. They nest in the low Arctic, on tundra ponds with marshy shores and
bogs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RedNeckedPhalaropeIceland2006.jpg
Black Oystercatcher. Large shorebird with bright red bill and pink legs. Forages in the intertidal
zone, feeding on marine invertebrates, particularly molluscs. Photo by Barry Reswig, USFWS.
Yellow-winged Cacique. Inhabits the subtropical and tropical dry forest lowlands of Guatemala
and Mexico. It is related to the grackle and oriole. Photo by Jon Church. http://www.
oaxacawildlife.org/birds/_DSC4986reduced.html.
Greater Sage Grouse. These birds cannot survive in areas where sage brush does not exist.
Males often weigh in excess of four to five pounds, and hens weigh in at two to three pounds.
Photo by Dave Menke, USFWS.
rather than the presence of the bacteria
themselves. During the first four to six
weeks after exposure, most people have
not developed the antibody response that
the test measures. Treatment should not
be delayed pending a positive test result
if the suspicion of Lyme disease is high
(exposure, tick bite, and rash).
Two primary antibody tests are
used to diagnose Lyme disease, the ELISA
and the western blot. Doctors commonly
order an ELISA first to screen for the
disease and then confirm the disease with a
western blot. However, current ELISA tests
are not sensitive enough for screening and
may miss over half the true cases. Because
of this, the best antibody test to use for
diagnosis is the western blot. The readout
from the western blot looks like a bar code.
The pattern produced by running the test
with your blood is compared to a template
pattern that represents known cases of
Lyme disease. If your blot has bands in
the right places, and the right number of
bands, it is positive. Some of the bands
are more significant than others and your
doctor may decide you have Lyme disease
even if your western blot does not have
enough bands or the right bands to be
reported to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) for surveillance
purposes. Different laboratories use
different methods and criteria, so you can
have a positive test result from one lab and
a negative test result from another. Lyme
disease is known to inhibit the immune
system and twenty to thirty percent of
patients have false negative antibody tests.
Two other tests that may be used to
diagnose Lyme disease are PCR and
antigen detection tests. Polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) multiplies a key portion
of DNA from the Lyme bacteria so that
it can be detected. While PCR is highly
accurate when the Lyme DNA is detected,
it produces many false negatives, because
Lyme bacteria are sparse and may not be in
the sample tested. Antigen detection tests
look for a unique Lyme protein in fluid
(e.g., blood, urine, joint fluid). Sometimes
people whose indirect tests are negative are
positive on this test.
The Applegate Valley is wonderful
habitat for ticks—including Ixodes
Pacificus. Ticks have a two-year life cycle
and must have three blood meals to survive.
Being mindful of their presence can help
you avoid becoming their meal source—
but at the nymph stage, probably the most
common stage for infecting humans, they
are about the size of a poppy seed. Ticks
climb up to the top of blades of grass and
wait for a warm body to pass by. If you
are selected—the tick will move around
until it’s able to get to your skin and seek
out a meal site. At the nymph stage in
the spring—generally May or June—you
probably won’t feel the tick as it takes its
meal. The adult meal is taken in the fall,
usually September or October.
If you find a tick embedded in
your skin, the method you use to remove
it is critically important. Improper
technique in removing the tick will increase
the risk of the fluid inside the tick’s body
FROM PAGE 20
being injected into your blood. There are
several myths about tick removal: Many of
us who grew up in this valley were taught to
unscrew the tick. Hmmm—well, the tick
did not screw itself in, so there is no need
to screw it out! Do not put a lighter or a
cigarette behind ticks. Do not attempt to
smother them in Vaseline. Do not irritate
them with gasoline or kerosene…these
methods all result in the tick regurgitating
or depositing its body contents into your
blood! In addition to the Lyme spirochete,
Bull’s-eye rash
ticks can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted
Fever, Relapsing Fever, Babesiosis, and
Colorado Tick Fever.
The safest way to remove a tick
is to get next to the skin with a pair of
tweezers —or one of the many commercial
forms of tick removers—and lift the tick
out in the same direction it went in without
squeezing the body. Save your tick so it
can be identified and tested! Try to keep
it alive. Put it in a small bottle, vial or zip-
lock baggie with a few blades of grass; mark
the date and location where it was found.
Take it to Jackson County Vector Control,
555 Mosquito Lane, White City. There
you can have it identified and determine
whether it is the potentially infected deer
tick—or a common dog tick. If it’s a deer
tick, ask Vector Control employees to
send it to a lab to be tested for the Lyme
spirochete. It will cost you $35.95 if it’s
alive—and $64.95 if it’s dead. If the tick
is positive for Lyme, you should see your
doctor and request a course of prophylactic
antibiotics.
Lyme disease often presents with
flu-like symptoms including fever and
weakness. If you find yourself with a flu
that seems to come and go—and no one
you are in contact with has influenza—
consider the possibility that you may be
in the early stages of Lyme disease. For
additional information, visit the California
Public Health website, or the CALDA
(California Lyme Disease Association) at
www.lymedisease.org. The tick and Lyme
issues of northern California are the same
as those in southern Oregon; however, the
medical community in southern Oregon
is not nearly as aware of the risk as those
in California. This is highlighted by the
difference in the information available on
the State Health Departments websites.
Julie Wheeler • 541-531-9939
Occupational Health
and Safety Manager
U.S. Forest Service
NOTE: The award-winning movie about
Lyme disease, “Under our Skin,” is available
through the Jackson County Library System.