Duck itch!

[Grant]

Originally Posted by CateP

I am no fan of Canadian Geese because of the over population and the fact that my cute little Shih-Tzu doggie has this disgusting and crazy appetite for their feces...BUT with a little research we find there may be another culprit in our midst.

"...common mergansers usually harbor heavy infections compared to other species of bird hosts. For example, the average number of miracidia that hatch from a gram of feces from common mergansers is more than 300. Mallards, Canada geese and wood ducks usually have less than 25% infected and only a couple of miracidia per gram of feces."

Source

BTW-this web site has a lot of good info on swimmers itch. Such as this:

"The following are factors that may determine whether swimmer's itch may be a problem on a specific lake at a given time:

• distribution and number of snails that can serve as intermediate hosts
• distribution and number of bird hosts that can serve as hosts for the adult worm
• wind direction
• water currents
• number of hours that people stay in the water
• time of day
• sensitivity of the individual to swimmer's itch.

All of these factors can change on an annual basis."

Mergansers are native. As are loons. These damn Canada geese are a VERY new arrival on the Lake. Like within the past 3-5 years. They should be universally loathed, and unwelcome. Like everywhere else, they are reproducing rapidly while the politically correct and sensitive among us fret and moan about humane and passive ways to dissuade them from staying around.

Trust me. They are here and will stay and will DESTROY the water quality very, very quickly. Mergansers cannot compete with the reproductive prowess and poop-producing volume of these pests. Not even close.

[Jeanzb1]

We, too, have had a horrible problem with Duck Itch in the last few years. But now we have learned that there are a few things you can do to minimize the number of "bites" you get.

1) Shower off immediately after getting out of the water;
2) Do not "air dry" in your bathing suit;
3) Wear lots of creamy sunscreen everywhere to act as a barrier;
4) Try not to hang out near a dock or rocks.

After Bite works well for us. Ditto Benadryl.

[MikeF-NH]

It is not illegal to take waterfowl on the water. Many feel it is unethical but there is definitely no rule stating you must wait for the bird to take flight.

It is also legal to take waterfowl on any water body in NH unless you are within 300 feet of a house. That said, every waterfowler I know would not want to upset any homeowner by launching a salvo of 3" mag 12 shots at first light because it's legal to shoot 350 feet from said home. That is the problem with Winni. It's shorelines are well populated. Sure you can find legal spots all over the lake but with more secluded ponds and rivers everywhere, there is no need to force confrontation with an increasingly liberal population of shoreline residents.

If you have a stretch of shoreline on your property that is legal to hunt and would not disturb your neighbors, you certainly could visit any number of NH hunting websites and get to know ethical hunters that you could invite to hunt your land. That said, the nature of waterfowl is that they are migratory meaning once one group is harvested, the next group moves in. Resident birds however would be nicely removed with a few hunts.

Alternatively, you can make your shoreline unattractive for waterfowl:
-get a coyote decoy and set him up on your beach
-get a dock owl statue and nail it to your dock
-tie a string to stakes along your beach at the shoreline with surveyors tape every few feet about 1 foot off the ground.
-get a dog (a retriever) and station him on your beach. He'll have the Life of Riley keeping birds off your property.