Tick surveillance of migratory birds during 2010–2011 on Hong and Heuksan Islands, Jeollanam Province, Republic of Korea

Abstract

Migratory birds were captured, examined, banded and then released in accordance with a bird banding protocol of the Bird Research Center, National Park Research Institute, Korea National Park Service, from January-December 2010–2011 on Hong and Heuksan Islands, Jeollanam (Jeonnam) Province, in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Concurrently, ticks were collected from captured birds as part of a tick-borne disease surveillance program. A total of 381 ticks belonging to three genera and eight species – Ixodes turdus (297 ticks), Ixodes nipponensis (16), Haemaphysalis flava (46), Haemaphysalis longicornis (9), Haemaphysalis formosensis (5), Haemaphysalis ornithophila (6), Haemaphysalis concinna (1), and Amblyomma testudinarium (1)—were collected from 32 bird species belonging to 3 families. This is the first host report of A. testudinarium (1 nymph) collected from White’s Thrush, Zoothera aurea (Aves: Passeriformes: Turdidae), in the ROK. Most ticks were collected from birds during the months of April (44.1%) and November (54.2%).