Monday, August 8, 2016

Squirrel Bot Fly Parasite Documentary


Another reason besides Zika Virus to avoid mosquito bites in Florida! May be disturbing to some viewers! Bot Flies, Warbles, Wolf Worms, Mango Worms - they have many names, but they are nasty and they are back again this hot summer (Florida, late July 2016). This video shows some of the Backyard Gray Squirrels dealing with this mosquito borne seasonal scourge that they suffer every summer. Not all of the squirrels have them - yet. One poor guy has them in his shoulder, leg and testicles which seems particularly nasty. The video shows them stoically carrying on and doing a lot of scratching and biting. Last year at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orx-xLZrry0
I noted they typically fully recover especially with extra food and fresh water provided by kindly humans. It is also interesting to note that the worst off fellow appears to be eating dirt or charcoal as a way of providing essential nutrients and maybe animal medicine. There really is nothing to be done medically for them as catching wild squirrels and restraining them while trying to cleanly remove and disinfect the worm area would be very stress inducing and risk injury and infection. It is said that these type of bot flies do not transfer to humans by mosquito bites in Florida as they do in Central America, but with Zika and everything else around I try to avoid any mosquito bites - but that's nearly impossible!
  
More detailed information can be found at:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/flies/squirrel_bot_fly.htm
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Squirrel Bot Fly Parasite Documentary



Woodpecker Couple Inspects Nest Box



A pair of Red Bellied Woodpeckers inspect a new Flycatcher Nest Box. Its now late July and 7 baby Red Bellied Woodpeckers have hatched and fledged in two broods so far this summer so I'm not sure what these two are up to - it could be they just can't resist checking out any potential nest site and give their opinion. Mother woodpecker in particular seems to spend a long time checking from every angle. Some nights the woodpeckers roost in the various nest boxes even though its not breeding season.

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Woodpecker Couple Inspects Nest Box
Woodpecker Couple Inspects Nest Box




Blue Jays Prank Squirrels - and Humans!



Blue Jays seem to delight in terrorizing the Backyard Gray Squirrels and manipulating us humans with their false alarm calls. When I hear these loud group alarm calls I usually grab the camera and head for the door as something interesting may be up! But it doesn't really take much to trick a squirrel or myself and the Jays have learned to use their vastly superior intellect to get more peanuts by drawing me out in the morning this way. They then settle in for a peanut  party which I am too nice to deny them as I have left them alone for a month in Florida, but they do seem to have a bit of a guilty look on their faces.

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Blue Jays Prank Squirrels