Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Great Horned Owl

“Ticks with Wings” for Birds…

Photo / Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

This owl came to us down, weak, and unable to fly. It may have suffered minor head trauma, been down from West Nile Virus (diagnostics pending), or had a variety of other types of trauma or illness.

It was also crawling with “flat flies”.

These ectoparasites are in the family Hippoboscidae and we lovingly refer to them as “ticks with wings” due to their blood-sucking, disease-spreading lifestyle and the fact that they cannot be squished or swatted. With tough exoskeletons like ticks, you must crush them by rolling them between fingers to kill them.

If you follow us on TikTok, you may have watched the intake exam of this patient and seen just how overwhelmed this owl was by “flat flies”.

The nickname “flat flies” comes from their body shape. These hippoboscid flies are flattened dorsoventrally (basically flattened between their back and abdomen) to lie close to their hosts, tucked securely under feathers. Although they CAN fly, they prefer to stay up close and personal with their food source.

Though they can and do bite us, they do not parasitize humans and will not stay or live on us for long.

These flies are important disease vectors in birds, transmitting diseases like avian malaria and Haemoproteus, the most common blood parasite we see in our patients (and found on this owl).

Watch this video to see how much better this owl is now doing after treatment with supportive care and medicines to lower the parasite burden. We hope that this patient will make a full recovery!