I remember finding something very like what is being described crawling on me as I made my way close to Etherow C.P. I lined up my best Subbuteo flicking finger and propelled it several meters into the distance. However, it was as if it was on some sort of elastic, and upon reaching its furthest stretching point, it began its return journey at the same rate it had travelled outwards. I just legged it (I could run fast then - when I had to).

Seriously, it reminded me of a kind of tick (that's made the 200 club sit up and take notice) that infests the grasslands of North America, and I've had a fair number of those on me at times. Not nice. This is not meant to denote confusion, just scratching my head at the thought of the superlice.

..prefer Mr P's "Live and let die" option, myself

well done with the owl Mike

Ringers often encounter Hippoboscidae flat flies on many bird species during the summer. Never noticed them on tawny owl but I haven't handled many adults. The species found on swifts is flightless. In my experience, they never cause any problem to humans and as far as I know don't bite. Although they may look repulsive, they don't stay around in your hair for long. I say live and let live!
Steve

You haven't lived till you've had a swan louse crawl out of your hair...us swan rescuers frequently get them!

We've always called them keds, you get them on mammals (sheep and deer at least) as well as birds. Some species are winged, others wingless . . . whichever, they're all revolting! There's nothing worse than sitting watching TV, for instance, then suddenly feeling one run across your face, I hate the damned things! As you say Mike, you can bat them away and they just come right back at you. I remember having a dead bird in a plastic bag on the dashboard (as you do!) one day whilst driving and noticing one inside the bag, trying to find a way out. I reached across and tried to squash it against the windscreen. I almost crashed the car before I'd managed to kill it!

H i Paul,

I'm glad you hate them too!
It was a case of sweet revenge though this morning.

I crept into the bathroom at 5.45 and closed the door behind me, my eyes scanning and scrutinising every corner with a manic gleam, ready and primed for a showdown. The fly was on the ceiling, waiting to pounce on me, the owl, or any other innocent passerby.

I ripped off a couple of toilet roll squares and climbed onto the rim of the bath and reached slowly up towards the fly. I trapped the beast against the ceiling, slowly manoeuvring it between finger and thumb. (Needless to say pressing it against the ceiling had done it no harm at all).
I slowly peeled back the loo paper and saw a wing which I delighted in detaching. If it got away now the most it could do would be to spiral down in a circle, like a sycamore seed.
I gave it the big squeeze and then ground it sideways just to make sure; - gotcha!
under the magnifying glass it was very similar to a large tick, with a revolting abdomen and crabby legs, but smaller and less nasty than the ones on swifts.

For any of you who believe in reincarnation, it must have been a right bastard in a previous life.

Cheers,

Still itching,
of Durham

Mike they are the bane of my life, I hate the buggers, they appear to pick certain species, owls swifts etc, and no matter what you do they not die, they home in on the warmth of your body,had one in my van once for over a week, kept attacking me when I was driving. the only sure way to remove them is slowly....

You wait till it is in view, say on your hand or face, then slide it off onto a piece of card, dispose of the card, and run away fast.

Glad the owl survived, you did a good job with that.
Stay away from the flat ones


Keep Birding

We were happily settled watching a DVD and sipping a cuppa last night when we heard an ominous thud. It was a "What the hell was that?" sort of moment. Fearing a bird strike, (a pheasant at full belt can easily crack a double glazed unit, I've seen it, -but that's another story), we fanned out in a search. Sure enough, below one of the bedroom windows was the slumped body of a Tawny Owl. From experience, either its neck was broken, or it wasn't (in which case it might take 10/15 minutes to recover). I picked it up, still warm obviously, eyes closed (actually, a good sign this) and cradled it admiringly to my chest, whilst holding its legs high up the thighs between my fingers. In the dull light I noticed several flies slithering across its mantle feathers. I showed my wife and son the patient in the light of the porch whilst several flies jumped onto me. Its legs twitched, I checked its wings, - both fine, and it did seem to be holding its head up. It open its eyes and flexed its legs, and then it flapped its wings; - things were looking promising. After several more minutes it was obvious that it had had a close call, but had only knocked itself unconscious. I left it safely perched on one of the pillars at the bottom of the drive, and 10 minutes later, it had gone. In the kitchen, I was now dancing around wafting at several persisting flies crawling on my neck and vanishing inside my shirt. They seemed to disappear. Later though in the bathroom, undressing for bed, a fly suddenly appeared on the bridge of my nose. I smacked myself in the face to kill it, but it was totally resistant and crawled up my forehead defiantly, before launching off. I remembered from my ringing days these damn things are like little armoured tanks, they simply will not squash. I left it locked in the bathroom somewhere, but lying in bed imagined various private itches demanded exploratory scratches and wondered if these things were host specific. I do recall that Swifts carried the ugliest flat flies (horrible big bottle green shiny things) and House Martins a smaller less revolting species yet again, but I didn't know of owls carrying any. Do any Owl workers/ringers out there have any experience with or observations on these things on Tawny Owls, please?