The Hidden Dangers of Bird Nests
This weekend I noticed that a double bird nest had been blown down from the palm trees in front of my house and had stuck on the decorative shutters above our front window. I lifted the nests off of the house and noticed some fallen and broken eggs on the lawn and in the street. After I disposed of the nests, I noticed some tiny little mites crawling on my shirt and on my arms and hands.
One of the consequences of handling bird nests and allowing them to build on or near our houses is the bird mites that can appear in very great numbers. The mites are perfectly designed for feeding on birds and they will drop off after each feeding to grow a little larger until they get mature enough to breed and make some baby mites to keep the cycle going. Birds have thinner skin than we do; the mites feed, drop off, molt, and then feed again.
I have often enjoyed watching birds build their nests in the early spring, but after the little fledglings learn how to fly, they will leave those nests and they leave thousands of mites behind; these are mites that have no birds to feed on, but they still have an active appetite as I found out after I discarded the nests!
When People Get Mite Bites
When mites get in the house, it is usually because they are carried indoors after we pick them up on a patio or a place where birds feed or dust themselves. Mites usually do their feeding at night, so we assume that the infestation is in the bedroom (it sometimes is when the bird nests are near windows or in attic vents).
When Bird Mites feed on people, they seldom survive the meal because our skin is much thicker than bird skin and the mite has to burrow in deep in order to feed. Normally the little mite gets crushed or suffocates while it is trying to feed and the head gets stuck under our skin. The location of the bite will generally start to swell up about a week after the actual bite as the tiny body of the mite decomposes down under the surface.
Bird mite bites are characterized by:
- A small spot that itches for only a little while, followed by;
- Swelling at that location a few days or up to a week later and;
- A sensation of crawling on the skin when nothin is there (a defense mechanism that lasts for about two weeks after the bites go away)
Bird Mites can be controlled with heat (clothes dryer or hair dryer), vacuum cleaners, disinfectant cleaners, or pesticides. South American Bird Mites can live up to 70 days without a host, but most mites seldom live much more than about six weeks after the birds have left the nest.
In order to control the mites, the nests MUST be removed and birds should be excluded from nesting on the structure to keep mites from getting inside. The nesting areas will have to be cleaned with soap and water; possibly with a power wash. Be very thorough when you look for nests, because some types of birds will locate under tiles and even in the attic if there is a vent screen missing or damaged. All nests and nesting materials must be removed and the nesting site must be cleaned and protected from new incursions by eager lovebirds.
Mite treatments are quite difficult for pest control companies because the mites come in very large numbers, so the treatment has to be very comprehensive. Please be aware that the symptoms of mite bites will persist for up to two weeks after the treatment even if there are no more mites on the property. Many firms that offer mite control, schedule and charge for two treatments to avoid the losses associated with re-treatments.
If you have any questions about Bird Mites, or other biting bugs, please check out the Pest Library on my website. Let me know if Pinpoint can help!