All, Brandon Lentz warned Minnesota birders recently about losing count of the number of ticks he found on him at Salt Lake in Lac Qui Parle County. None of us are safe from ticks and the diseases they carry, so I want each and every one of you to be safe and healthy while engaging in your avian endeavors. Members of our own community have been impacted by this, one such person you may know is Peter Nichols, who talks openly about his struggle with chronic Lyme disease many years after he contracted the disease from a tick bite.
Being that it is almost May (which is Lyme Disease Awareness Month) I wanted to warn participants of Salt Lake Weekend to come prepared. I personally like to treat my hiking clothes with permethrin, it seems to do a great job. Before going into the field on a hike, I then also tuck my pants into my socks and spray 100% deet on my clothes, especially at the ankles and on my boots. Permethrin is the active ingredient in a lot of dog tick mitigation treatments, but is toxic to cats, so please be aware of this if you have feline friends at home when treating or storing clothes treated with permethrin. Of course, follow the instructions on the bottle for proper application and storage. There is a whole lot of excellent information at a website called projectlyme.org<https://projectlyme.org/>, I invite you to peruse the site for more information. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I will see you out there among the birds! Best, Trey Weaver ---- General information and guidelines for posting: https://moumn.org/listservice.html Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
