Monday, November 11, 2013

Walk in the Woods

Collecting ticks

Ticks bearing Lyme disease have been found in the Province of Ontario. Sadly they are moving northward form the U.S. So far none have been found in York Region (where I live) or in neighbouring Durham Region where the above photo was taken. But researchers are on the look out!

Working in a grid-like pattern, the above researcher is dragging a white, one-metre-square cloth (maybe corduroy, but I forgot to look) behind her to harvest ticks. Any ticks she and her partner found were taken back to a laboratory for further inspection.

 Kids on the trail

Meanwhile kids with families (and photographers with cameras) were wandering along the paths and...

 Hand feeding chipmunks

animal lovers were hand feeding (it's hard to see here)...

Chipmunk eating out of hand

hungry chipmunks. FYI: They were also feeding chickadees, blue jays, nuthatches, squirrels and any other critters willing to take handouts.

More photos from Our World can be seen by clicking HERE.

Please visit Michelle at Rambling Woods for more NATURE NOTES.

52 comments:

Judy said...

It would be so cool to hand feed a chipmunk!!!

Our photos said...

Chipmunk eating out of handphoto is so cut!
Monday greetings, RW & SK


Indrani said...

The squirrels I meet are wary of my camera. You got great shots!

Buttons Thoughts said...

The ticks are no here too and I spend a lot of time in the woods sadly I removed one the other day. I will continue to be extra careful and keep safe but will never stop wandering in the woods. Oh I love your walk. Hug B

Nancy said...

Cute to see the animals taking food from one's hand... just hope they don't get dependent upon it.

Kate said...

Our dogs adore chipmunks but not for the same reason. Ticks, incidentally, are devilish and dangerous; our old dog has had medical issues because of them and we are religious about applying
tick medicine on them on a regular basis.

eileeninmd said...

The ticks can be awful, we have seen plenty around here.
I love the cute chipper photos. Have a happy day!

Kathy said...

Is there no worry that chipmunks might bite?

Anonymous said...

Hate to hear that lyme disease is spreading. Adorable chipmunk! How fun to hand feed them.

TexWisGirl said...

cute little chipper! yes, ticks are terrible.

MadSnapper said...

so cool seeing the chippie eating out of her hand... sorry our ticks are coming up there to you...

Darla said...

The tick collector actually looks rather stylish.

Darla

Linda W. said...

Cute chipmunk photo!

Penelope Postcards said...

The idea of a harmful disease lurking around the comforts of nature is strange but thank goodness for the efforts of the tick collectors.

RedPat said...

That chipmunk pic is sooo cute, EG!

Small City Scenes said...

Those little Chips sure blend in to the fallen leaves.
I hope they find all the Ticks and they stay away.
Remember today!
MB

Kerri Farley said...

ticks scare me!!! Sorry you have found lyme disease up there....there's a lot of it down here sad to say!

Gail Dixon said...

Be still my heart! Feeding chipmunks by hand is so sweet! Hope they don't find any ticks carrying lyme disease in your area.

Maude Lynn said...

I would love to hand feed a chipmunk! How cool!

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

HI That is so cool feeding a Chipmunk

Pamela Gordon said...

The deer ticks are in NB and NS too. I've never seen one, have you? With all the deer in our area I do worry about it. Fun photos of the people feeing the chipmunk. I also like your chipmunk mosaic in your previous post. He sure is cute!

Sylvia K said...

Great, interesting post and wonderful captures as always!! I love that little chipmunk!! Hope you have a great week, EG!

Anonymous said...

Cute feeding the chipmunks... I remember when my son was about 7, we were camping in eastern Oregon and a ground squirrel (like a large chipmunk) crawled into his pants pocket for a treat he had there...

Fun60 said...

I am amazed they are taking food straight from the hand. They must be very used to seeing friendly humans.

Janie said...

Cute photo of the hand fed chipmunk.
I'm wary of ticks anyway, but Lyme disease is a little scary.

Ruth Hiebert said...

I did not realize that they actually harvested ticks in this way. My BIL had a Black-legged tick just a few weeks ago. We do have them in our area and they are known to carry Lyme's disease.

Anonymous said...

The tics are out of control. Just another indication that things are out of balance. When I was a kid in Vermont, we never worried about tics. Now I cannot go out in the yard without picking up a few.

William Kendall said...

That takes a lot of trust from the chipmunks!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Do they get fed pretty regular? It's just bad news about the ticks..that is one little critter I do not like to see- on me, or on an animal. Blood suckers and disease carriers.

SandyCarlson said...

Sorry our ticks are making it into your corner of the world! We don't play well with others down here.

Those chipmunk shots are great.

Jenn Jilks said...

Interesting to see a photo of the researcher!
Mind you, we've harvested 12 or 13 ticks this fall.
Summer time count: Late August, they picked up again and we were up to about 85.

Rose said...

I for one would be volunteering to feed them! And since it is the end of the day and probably not meany more going to read this...maybe no one...all the need to have to find ticks is to let me walk through an area! You have heard of chick magnets...I am a tick magnet! LOL

Jack said...

I haven't seen "tick harvesting" like this. Sorry that you are getting our Lyme Disease-bearing ticks.

Photo Cache said...

amazing how tame the chipmunk is eating from hand.

Photo Cache said...

amazing how tame the chipmunk is eating from hand.

Laura said...

Ticks are a terrible problem here in NH. I pulled four off my dog yesterday and she is treated with frontline monthly!

Karen said...

There are ticks in our area, I was bitten and contracted Lyme disease. Luckily I was cured. I would love to hand feed a chippy, squirrels are so grabby!

Stephanie said...

Hope they were able to capture some ticks. Love the chipmunk shot!

mick said...

I hate ticks! We have them here in Australia also but I think different from the ones in north America.
The little Chipmunk is so cute!

Vores have said...

Great pictures you show :)

Billy Blue Eyes said...

Our dog i sgood at picking up ticks, ugly looking critters from what I have seen. I love that chipmonk wish we had them in the UK

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Oh no ticks are horrid. We have cane toads trying to cross the boarder into WA, they really are disgusting creatures and poisonous too.

Carver said...

Great shots from the trails. Ticks can cause such terrible health issues. I have a family member with lyme disease.

Susan Anderson said...

Ticks are a drag. I have a friend who just found out she has Lyme disease after two years of doctors trying to figure out what is wrong with her. Now she is on medication that makes her totally sick, but at least they've diagnosed it.

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kayerj said...

how fun to feed the chipmunks.

MyMaracas said...

We have to be very careful about ticks here, too. We've been lucky not to be bitten, but we have found them on our clothing after roaming around in the tall grass.

It must be quite a thrill to feed so many wildlings by hand!

betty-NZ said...

It's good to be cautious. The chipmunks are so cute!

LV said...

When growing up and living in the country, we had our share of ticks. Hated them. Never knew about this way of capturing them. Most interesting.

Rambling Woods said...

I didn't know that you didn't have ticks in your area already. We have to be careful here... So small and so possibly dangerous... The chippys are cute.. Michelle

Cezar and Léia said...

I love chipmunk, they are so cute!I didn't imagine they could be so small!Really cute!

People there are doing such a great job, congrats!
Léia

maryaustria said...

Great series of photos! I love the last! So cute!

Unknown said...

Unpleasant with tics but I would very much like to hand feed a chipmunk, so cute!
//Scaniatjejen
http://scaniatjejen.se

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East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.