Ticks born by the wind?

[justpeachy]

On Sunday Greg and I experienced something strange (and horrifying) on top of Bullrun Rock in the Monument Rock Wilderness: ticks seemed to be appearing out of thin air. There was almost no vegetation up there and we were the highest things around (in other words, there were no trees or bushes on a slope above us). We never saw ticks on what few little shrubs grew in that rocky place, but they appeared as if from nowhere on our clothing and our packs. One even appeared on Greg's hat, which had been on his head the whole time. We saw several dozen of them in this way, yet never saw them prior to climbing up there or after we climbed back down. Has this ever happened to you? The only explanation we could come up with is that the ticks were being carried on the wind (which was fairly strong at times). Is this a thing?

[Limey]

Well, I had to look. According to many sites in my google search, ticks do not get carried on the wind. They may hitch a ride on a bird though. Horrifying indeed. Shields up Scotty.

[texasbb]

I know nothing about airborne ticks, so it's a perfect topic to comment on.

My guess is that a tick doesn't have much range. Wherever he drops off one host is pretty much where he'll have to find the next. So I'm guessing many of them drop onto grass or other ground-level vegetation, where they'll stay until one of us strolls by and offers a nice shoe or sock as an alternative to the low quest nest. Once on board, ticks tend to head upward, and my experience says a sizeable number of them will make it near the top before latching on.

Then again, flying ticks would make a better cheap movie.

[Chip Down]

Has this ever happened to you?

A time or two. Why do you assume they get blown around? Maybe they get dropped by helpful birds or flying insects.

[justpeachy]

[Why do you assume they get blown around? Maybe they get dropped by helpful birds or flying insects.

That hadn't occurred to me. No less horrifying than windblown ticks, though!

[retired jerry]

was it windy?

that seems implausible that they would be dropped by a bird. One, maybe, but so many, unless there was a flock of birds

if there were a bunch of ticks on brush, which is supposed to be common, and you just happened to be in the wrong place when a gust of wind happened

I know nothing also and thus give my opinion

[VanMarmot]

I know nothing about airborne ticks, so it's a perfect topic to comment on.

My guess is that a tick doesn't have much range. Wherever he drops off one host is pretty much where he'll have to find the next. So I'm guessing many of them drop onto grass or other ground-level vegetation, where they'll stay until one of us strolls by and offers a nice shoe or sock as an alternative to the low quest nest. Once on board, ticks tend to head upward, and my experience says a sizeable number of them will make it near the top before latching on.

Then again, flying ticks would make a better cheap movie.

They made a movie (Them) in the 50s about giant flying ants, so why not flying ticks? There's already a classic (I use that term loosely here) movie about your old-style, drop-from-the-brush, crawl-on-you-from-below, kinda ticks.

[Webfoot]

Today I walked 100 yards down a power line road in Washington and picked up about 8 ticks in a couple of minutes, including one that bit me before I could get all the others off. I've never experienced anything like that before and it's nearly enough to make me want to stop hiking. I made the mistake of not wearing treated clothing (it was literally only 100 yards!) but I don't know how much good it would have done with that density. This is horrifying!

[romann]

Did they have 6 or 8 legs? Some flying insects can resemble ticks. It's on the east of the country, but maybe we have other bugs that also look alike?

Added later: one forum mentions "flying ticks" in Oregon; these turned out to be Deer Keds.

[Chip Down]

Webfoot, kindly tell us where that was!