Hi. I'm unable to identify a parasite infestation in my new Purple Martin house. I didn't find the parasite in the "what's bugging your birds" archive pages. It is definitely not a Blowfly, Lousefly, Blackfly, mosquito, or tick. Also it's not a louse, bedbug, because it's round-ish and not a flat type of bug. The closes thing it looks like is a bird-nest mite except they are the size of large fleas and look MUCH bigger than the ones in the parasite.html page. I know they are not fleas as they will attack me like a magnet to steel if I'm in the vicinity of any and more so because when you smash a flea with/between your fingers it won't die. These bugs will easily smash.
I noticed these unknown bugs during a removal of 3 house sparrow nests -for the forth time! And because there was a recent attempted-attack by a large snake (I did not see this happen, only signs). While inspecting each of the 4 young martins I did not find any other parasites except a few bird lice. There are a several dozen of these parasites on each bird and in the nest. Several can been seen on the birds and on the nest material with just a 2-3 second glance.
This new martin house+ colony was establish in early April in Greenville, TX. I had one successful fledgings of 3 martins earlier and one bird that not want to leave that particular nest. I had two other pairs that appear to be ready to lay eggs.
These 4 young birds are the only ones constantly in the house. They appear weak since the snake attack. They are not so weak they appear starved. The parents are the only Martins that seem to return as often as they did before the snake attack.
Tonight I will change the nesting material and add cedar shavings and will try to take pictures of the parasites. I think they may be GIANT Bird-nest mites.
Many thanks and any help will be appreciated and sorry for a long post!
- Neon Dion
Unknown Parasite Infestation
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CUL Lou~Mich
Neon. I'd think what you have are nest mites. I would imagine they would grow to be larger than the pepper flake sized most describe them as. If you have a flower/nursery nearby, try to get some 5% sevin, and put a 1/4 teaspoon in the nest. Sort of shake it around the edges. The mites should be gone in 24 hours or so. Lots of folks from Texas report having mites, is why I'm thinking that's what you have. CUL Lou
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Guest
CUL, Seems like I read somewhere that Sevin Dust is not recommended, but I'm unsure at what percentage dosage the site referred to. This weekend I'm putting an identical stove -type baffle like on the blue bird pole, changing out the nesting material for all four p.martin pairs and adding fresh cedar shavings. Hope that does the trick. I'm sure I'll aslo need to clear out the startings of new H.Sparrow nests in 3 of the homes. I've already removed 3 Full nests w/eggs -3 different times this year! 
All focus will be on monitoring and helping fledge this last pair (only 1 of 2 clutches this year) of p.martins so that they return for next year. I'm not sure if the snake got the very last fledging from the first clutch He stayed behind? It's obvious that some event has run off all the other pair of martins except the feeding pair. Possibly the snake or parasites. There is currently only one clutch with four young but there were two other pairs that made nests and appeared to be ready to lay eggs. But they split. Since there is only clutch I'll hold off and see if they improve after changing out all nesting material in the p.martin house. I might even try to dust off some of these big parasites using an air hose?? We got home late and I didn't have time to get pictures because it was getting dark. I didn't want to risk scaring off any of the p.martins in case one pair did return -unoticied. Thanks CUL Lou for the advice!
All focus will be on monitoring and helping fledge this last pair (only 1 of 2 clutches this year) of p.martins so that they return for next year. I'm not sure if the snake got the very last fledging from the first clutch He stayed behind? It's obvious that some event has run off all the other pair of martins except the feeding pair. Possibly the snake or parasites. There is currently only one clutch with four young but there were two other pairs that made nests and appeared to be ready to lay eggs. But they split. Since there is only clutch I'll hold off and see if they improve after changing out all nesting material in the p.martin house. I might even try to dust off some of these big parasites using an air hose?? We got home late and I didn't have time to get pictures because it was getting dark. I didn't want to risk scaring off any of the p.martins in case one pair did return -unoticied. Thanks CUL Lou for the advice!
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Guest
Oh yeah, about these possibly GIANT bird-nest parasites, you know what they say about TEXAS...Everything is big in TEXAS!!!! 
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Guest
I am HAPPY to report that the remaining 4 nestlings appear strong and healthy looking! Additionally I was so pleased to see about a dozen PMs on and around their house both mornings this weekend!! 
I replaced all nesting material in the house with cedar shavings. I sprinkled a little amount of Sevin dust and the combination drastically reduced the amount of 'bugs' in the nest. I also added a stove type baffle and kept a grease to prevent ants from thinking about climbing towards my birds. I went ahead and used Seven because I was convinced by Laverne (in another post) who quoted Victor Stoll in regards to safely using Sevin for 30 years.
CUL I think you are correct. After a closer examination of the bugs on the birds and in the nesting material, I believe these "unknown parasites" are really large "bird-nest mites". They were crawling all over the birds, in their nostrils and ears just like the picture in the parasite.html page. I would say there was only about a hundred or so of these mites in one nest? So I guess I might have panicked just a bit. Life is good.
I replaced all nesting material in the house with cedar shavings. I sprinkled a little amount of Sevin dust and the combination drastically reduced the amount of 'bugs' in the nest. I also added a stove type baffle and kept a grease to prevent ants from thinking about climbing towards my birds. I went ahead and used Seven because I was convinced by Laverne (in another post) who quoted Victor Stoll in regards to safely using Sevin for 30 years.
CUL I think you are correct. After a closer examination of the bugs on the birds and in the nesting material, I believe these "unknown parasites" are really large "bird-nest mites". They were crawling all over the birds, in their nostrils and ears just like the picture in the parasite.html page. I would say there was only about a hundred or so of these mites in one nest? So I guess I might have panicked just a bit. Life is good.