Effects of the haematophagous miteOrnithonyssus bursaon nestling starlings in New Zealand

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Abstract
The breeding of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris L.) in 160 nest boxes in the Manawatu region during 1974–75 and 1975–76 is described. Ornithonyssus bursa, a mesostigmatic dermanyssid mite with a 5‐stage life cycle, is a continuous parasite of several species of birds, including the starling. The seasonal pattern of O. bursa infestation over the starling breeding season is described with particular emphasis on the proportion of nest sites infested and the degree of infestation in early, middle, and late periods of the breeding season. Mites had no demonstrable major effects on the growth rate, weight at 15 days, mortality, blood characteristics, and lipid stores of starling nestlings. A pair of starlings can raise 3 or 4 nestlings, whether mite‐infested or not, with no significant difference between nestling weights at age 15 days. A heavy mite load of 50 000 in a nest box with 4 nestlings is calculated to take 3.5 % by weight of the blood of each nestling per day, a loss which healthy nestlings can apparently tolerate.