Ticks, Rain, Acorns and Lyme

Tick Concerns

"Connecticut's two major ticks — the Lyme disease-carrying deer tick and the American dog tick — tend to thrive in a wet weather pattern, says Dr. Kirby Stafford, vice director and chief entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station".

Interesting to me as Lyme reporting during NC droughts has been lower.

"The threat of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses in Dutchess County could be high this year based on the number of acorns that fell two autumns ago, a local tick expert said.
"We expect a moderately high year for Lyme," said Richard Ostfeld, animal ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook(Millbrook N.Y).

The connection between acorns and ticks is the white-footed mouse, Ostfeld explained. Blacklegged ticks, formerly known as deer ticks, feed on the mice that eat acorns. If the crop of acorns is abundant in the fall, the population of mice will be as well, Ostfeld said.
It takes two years for the disease to trickle down to the ticks that bite humans.
In autumn 2007, the number of acorns was moderately high, but the 2008 count is fairly low.

"So we might get a break next summer," he added."

So I am thinking that cutting down the 2 oak trees in our backyard was not so sad after all. We had to do something the root system was wrecking our foundation. Ah but there are 2 more. I hate to cut those down too - I love trees. I just bought three dogwoods and three cherry trees from the Arbor Day Foundation. They are just twigs with roots but I have high hopes. My doctor said I should put Seven down in the yard. This however will kill the lightening bugs which are a magical part of summer for me. I should also get rid of my bird feeders too because we are right on the edge of the North Atlantic Flyway. Of course thats why I put them up in the first place. - Well I draw the line at my dogs. They stay.