In case anyone needs another nuisance to deal with …
… here’s the annual reminder that the ticks are back.
… here’s the annual reminder that the ticks are back.
In this video Raina Costello talks about her work researching ticks and mosquitos at the Boulder Lake Environmental Learning Center, about 15 miles north of Duluth.
It’s a bit of a tradition on Perfect Duluth Day to note the discovery of the first tick of the season. PDD’s tech director, Cory Fechner, supplied the video above of a wood tick he discovered today in far western Minnesota. We should be hearing soon about the first Duluth tick of the season.
Some years they show up as early as March. And sometimes they stick around into October. Mostly it’s a May/June problem.
Happy Resurrection Day! I wish I were referring to the savior Jesus Christ and the Easter holiday, but today was the day I found my first tick of 2017. So April 16 marks the beginning of the 2017 tick resurrection. It’s something I’ve posted about almost annually on Perfect Duluth Day since 2005. Sometimes it happens as early as March, sometimes not until June, but the ticks always come back.
I picked up this year’s first tick by walking to the eastern terminus of the Millennium Trail in Superior and continuing past the parking lot there on a grassy trail to an overlook of Kelly Bay. I found two ticks while hiking; by the time three body searches were completed at home, the total count rose to six wood ticks and one deer tick.
Since 2005 I’ve been posting on PDD about the first tick of the season to crawl up into my business. There’s probably no reason for it, other than to let you feel my pain and generally announce that it’s the time of year to check yourself after you’ve been in the woods.
I picked up this year’s inaugural tick at Ely’s Peak, where I never left the trail, so don’t chalk it up to bushwhacking.
Ticks are most active from mid-May through mid-July.
It was actually last week — Friday, May 23 — when the first tick of 2014 crawled up my neck after a short hike near Kingsbury Creek. Although this time of year is prime time, ticks aren’t expected to be worse than usual in 2014. Mike McLean, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District, told KSTP-TV, there was a “depression in their numbers” in 2013 because of late-season snow, and that could carry into 2014.
In addition to misapplied possessive apostrophes and upset people in the newspaper, another thing we’ve been following on PDD for quite some time is the first tick to show its face each year. This little bloodsucker latched on to me today on the Lumber Camp Trail at Pattison Park.
I haven’t seen any ticks yet, but this popped up on my Facebook wall:
I found one by my dog’s ear yesterday. Here we go again!
Past first tick of the year posts:
March 29, 2010
May 8, 2009
June 8, 2008
May 11, 2007
June 6, 2005
Dear Duluthians,
I went to Jay Cooke for a (muddy) hike yesterday, and returned home to find a little tiny adult male deer tick upon my pant leg.
Let this be your first seasonal warning. Sorry, Paul, but I am still looking forward to your first tick-o-rama, as well.
I’ve got a 2-year-old with tweezers. He would be happy to pull any and all ticks from you, as soon as he finishes with his puppy.
