Note: there is a substantial amount of misinformation and fear-mongering online about bird/rodent mites, so please educate yourselves with these articles from expert scientists.

- https://extension.umn.edu/insect-relatives/bird-mites
- https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/how-to-deal-with-the-tiny-itch-inducing-bird-mite/

#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #BirdMites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Dermanyssina #Dermanyssoidea

AND THEN. On the top of the very same chair I saw a cluster of small mites that, by their size and behaviour, I first took for clover mites (unusual, since it's now kind of hot for them.) But no. They were a kind of mite I'd never seen before in real life: rodent/bird mites!!!

No idea what they were doing there. The chair was under a tree, so I suppose a bird nest or part of it could have fallen down? No traces of one nearby, though.

As I was photographing the mites, a bunch got on me and my phone. While these mites *can* bite humans and cause itching (although they cannot reproduce with only us to feed on), this is not a big deal to me because I currently have eczema/heat rash and my entire body itches already. There's nothing they can do to me that hasn't already been done!!!

I'm kicking myself for not having any collecting vials on me, though.

#ArthroBeauty #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #BirdMites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Dermanyssina #Dermanyssoidea #lifer