Tick surveillance of migratory birds during 2010-2011 on Hong and Heuksan Islands, Jeollanam Province, Republic of Korea

Migratory birds were captured, examined, banded and then released in accordance with a bird banding protocol of the Bird Research Center, National Park Research Institute, Korea National Park Service, from January-December 2010-2011 on Hong and Heuksan Islands, Jeollanam (Jeonnam) Province, in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Concurrently, ticks were collected from captured birds as part of a tick-borne disease surveillance program. A total of 381 ticks belonging to three genera and eight species - Ixodes turdus (297 ticks), Ixodes nipponensis (16), Haemaphysalis flava (46), Haemaphysalis longicornis (9), Haemaphysalis formosensis (5), Haemaphysalis ornithophila (6), Haemaphysalis concinna (1), and Amblyomma testudinarium (1)-were collected from 32 bird species belonging to 3 families. This is the first host report of A. testudinarium (1 nymph) collected from White's Thrush, Zoothera aurea (Ayes: Passeriformes: Turdidae), in the ROK. Most ticks were collected from birds during the months of April (44.1%) and November (54.2%).