DeSena Releases Quails into Environment to Bust Ticks

By Chris O'Neill

North Hempstead Supervisor Jen DeSena is treating the environment to a renewal with the release last week of over 300 Bobwhite Quail birds into the woods of Port Washington.

"These quail will devour harmful ticks and enrich or natural environment," stated Supervisor DeSena.

DeSena was joined by Council members Dennis Walsh (R-Mineola) and Mariann Dalimonte (D-Port Washington); Town Clerk Ragini Shrivastava (R); and Receiver of Taxes May Jo Collins (R), in releasing the birds into the North Hempstead Woods Park off West Shore Road in Port Washington.

The woods are a beautiful and tranquil expanse of grasslands and deep woods, but with the return of white tailed deer to the Cow Neck Peninsula (Manhasset and Port Washington) over the past decade, the ticks have become carriers of deadly diseases like Lyme Disease and the Powassan virus.

Tick-borne diseases are on the increase, with hundreds of local residents - often seniors - now hospitalized each year with Lyme and Powassan.  Lyme disease causes joint deterioration, chronic headaches and immune system depression; Powassan causes brain encephalitis. Both diseases can be fatal.

Deer are carriers of Lyme and Powassan. Each deer can have hundreds of ticks, sucking the deer's blood.  After gorging on blood, the tick drops off, lays its eggs, and then waits - now infected with Lyme and Powassan - to latch onto a passing human, and bite into them.

Scientists estimate than an average quail eats over 10,000 ticks during its lifetime. 

Each year, over 1500 Bobtail Quail eggs are incubated at the Yes We Can Community Center in Westbury.  The baby quails are then raised there and at other wildlife centers across North Hempstead.

When the quails are ready to fly, they are released into woodlands across North Hempstead, to nest and feast on ticks.