CHIGGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[canesisters]

Some of you know that I have a murder of crows that hang around the scale house. I lay french fries out on the scales for them in the afternoons sometimes. They're just really cool to watch. This past Monday something standing on the scale caught my attention. "THAT was NOT a crow" I thought and backed up for a better look. It was a buzzard. Black from one end to the other - BIG and bald headed. Just about that time one of the drivers was ready to scale out and nearly ran it over because it didn't fly away. It jumped over the rail and started walking back up the road towards the landfill. Well - I know nothing about buzzards so I figured that he'd just go on about his business.
It's been nearly a week and he's still here. Just walking around. Never flying. He walks the 1/4mile or so to the shop and hangs out in the garage. He walks the 1/4mile or so up the to the ash cell looking for lunch scraps and then walks back down. Poor thing can not possibly be getting enough to eat down here - there's no garbage - just pavement and grass.
So anyway, today I had a little break in truck traffic and he was back on the scale so I decided to try and get a better look at him. See if maybe he looked hurt or sick or something. Well, I chased that little bugger all over the field across from the scale. I got close enough to see that he does not appear to be injured. And being all shiney and smooth feathered, he doesn't appear ill either. Maybe he's the buzzard version of a fledgling???
Well a little bit after my 'examination' of the buzzaard my feet started itching. Then my legs. Then pretty much everything else. I finely got enough of a break to get my shoes off and take a look - expecting seed ticks. Nothing. Wait... little, tiny black specks..... OH NO!!!!!!!!! I've got chiggers!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lesa]

Are chiggers fleas? Sorry about that part- but how interesting that you got up close and personal with such a cool bird... Can you make him stand still long enough to take a pic?

 

[hoodat]

Tiny black specs would be freshly hatched ticks. Try wiping them down with a chlorox and water solution or soak in a bath as hot as you can stand it. Ticks can't take heat. They can really swarm you. Chiggers are so small you need outstanding eyesight to see them and are almost transparent.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Nope. Chiggers are not fleas. They are tiny little bitty insects that bore a hole in your skin and give off something that ITCHES!!!!! A red welt will come up and ITCH!!!! Sometimes that welt gets infected so you have a cap of yellow pus on top of that ITCHY red welt. Its usually not real pleasant and they can last a few days.

"Cane, when I was a kid wed pick blackberries by the gallon on a back pasture. Id come home with maybe 30 or 40 chiggers, mostly in the groin area. Id wash that area down with rubbing alcohol as soon as we got home. I think it helped but not much. Sometimes wed tie kerosene soaked rags around our ankles and stick a kerosene rag in our pockets to try to slow them down. We didnt have deep woods off around the house.

I can sympathize with what you are going through. Maybe next time bring the insect repellent?

Hoodat is right in the size and I remember those chiggers being red, not black.

 

[lesa]

Oh no! They sound awful! That sounds like another reason to like New York State...

 

[canesisters]

Until I get off work there isn't a darn thing I can do about them. I'm sure I look like I'm having some kind of fits with the jumping and scratching and twitching.... They do scratch off - and now that I think about it, don't chiggers burry in the skin? Maybe just ticks.. I can deal with ticks better, the itch doesn't last nearly as long.

He IS a cool looking bird Lesa. Over in the grass I got real close (it's hard to run in tall grass with 6" long legs). But on open pavement I can't get very close. I'll see if I can get a picture.

Does anyone know anything about them? I know that chickens and song birds LOOK like half grown birds when they're first learning to fly. This guy looked pretty much fully feathered.

I'm getting quite the collection. I've got half a dozen crows that visit daily, a wild dog that I'm trying to catch for one of the drivers and now a buzzard.

 

[Carol Dee]

Canesisiter, Nothing boring on your job! I had chiggers several times as a child. Usually from rolling down grassy hills. ITCH.... OMG... did they itch. Yes I think they do bore under the skin. Mom used to dab nail polish over them. I don't remember if that helped any or not. (Anything was worth a try!)

 

[Nyboy]

Oh no! They sound awful! That sounds like another reason to like New York State...

2x

 

[ninnymary]

I'm itching already and I don't even know what a chigger or tick is!

Mary

 

[baymule]

Are you sure they aren't seed ticks? Chiggers usually are so darn hard to even see, but seed ticks are tiny pin head sized creepy crawlies. They bury in worse than chiggers!