Abstrakt
In this paper we evaluate a prevalence and infestation intensity of ticks obtained from birds, mainly passerines. During the research, we have captured 742 birds in Slovak Karst and we collected ticks.
We also determined tick instars. The most abundant were larvae and nymphs, but, in contrast to other studies from Slovakia, we have found out also seven adult ticks.
Significantly higher prevalence was found out on species foraging intensively on ground, most frequently parasitized were Turdus philomelos and T. merula, Troglodytes troglodytes and Fringilla coelebs. However, birds which spend a lot of time in vegetation appear to be less important tick vectors.
Intensity of infestation was 1-8 ticks, mean intensity was 1,62 and median intensity 1,42.