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Photo#349756
bird louse

bird louse
Red Rock Wildlife Area, Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa, USA
November 1, 2009
Size: ~1.5 mm
Photo is of poor quality ("lousy"), but perhaps sufficient for ID at some level? Background story is that I was kayaking with friends along the rocky, wooded shoreline of Red Rock Reservoir when we came upon the odd sight of a drowned raptor. At arm's length, I hoisted it partway out of the water with my black-gloved hand to identify it as a Great Horned Owl. After releasing it, I spotted a small white dot moving slowly across my glove and transferred it to my sprayskirt. Optimistically, I used my pocket point-and-shoot camera to photograph it against the black fabric of the sprayskirt. The images were blurry and overexposed, but I digitally darkened and sharpened them to produce these photos. In general outline, it appears to resemble a bird louse in the BG gallery:

Images of this individual: tag all
bird louse bird louse

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Correct!
And a chewing louse at that (which most bird lice that I know of are).
Can't help you any further then that though. Best of luck! :)

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