Yuliia Skrypniuk - Week 5 with DNREC Fish and Wildlife Division

     This week felt short because of the 4th of July holiday Friday, but it was still packed with interesting work and new things to learn!

    On Monday, we traveled to Sussex County again to collect ticks in local parks. On the way back, we also picked up tick samples from several veterinary clinics that had collected them from their clients’ pets. Once we returned to the office, we worked on identifying the ticks. Even though I’ve been doing tick ID work for the past four weeks (and even had some experience before the internship), I still find it tricky sometimes! There were moments I looked through the microscope and thought, “I have no idea what I’m looking at,” or “This looks so familiar, but I can’t remember what it is.” That’s when I turn to our field guides and dichotomous keys or ask one of our experienced team members for help. It’s all part of learning, and it’s nice to know that no one expects you to know everything right away.

    On Tuesday, we joined another DNREC division to assist with a squirrel trapping project. A team from the southern office had set traps to catch a specific fox squirrel they were monitoring because it had a neck injury from its tracking collar. We were split into pairs and checked the traps about four hours after they had been set (they went out at 6 a.m., and we checked them at 10 a.m.). Each of us had vials ready to collect ticks—one for any found on the squirrels and another in case we found any on ourselves. Interestingly, the two squirrels we caught didn’t have any ticks on them, but we found a lot on us! One of the squirrels was a regular gray squirrel, and the other (bigger and silver-colored) was the fox squirrel we were looking for. It was really cool to see! We also learned how to properly handle squirrels, how to keep them calm, and how to take basic measurements and check for parasites.

    On Wednesday morning, we continued ID work on ticks from the vet clinics. Many of them were very engorged. It’s wild how big they can get, especially female blacklegged ticks. One of the ones I looked at was huge and looked like a shrunk bean! 

In the afternoon, we went out to respond to mosquito complaints from the public. One location was a newly developed neighborhood where construction was still happening. It was muddy and disorganized, and when we checked the grassy backyard areas for standing water, we found they were full of tiger mosquito larvae. We treated the area using larvicide granules and briquets that will help stop mosquito development for the next 30 days.

    On Thursday, we visited Fort Delaware State Park to drag for ticks. While we were there, we also got a mini tour of the site and scouted the surrounding area. I noticed a lot of mosquito larvae in standing water there, way too many. Even though I was working with the tick team, I knew this was something the mosquito control team needed to know about ASAP. We reported it, and now the mosquito team went out to spray larvicide to prevent a full-blown outbreak. It felt great to know that my training allowed me to recognize the issue early. If no one had noticed, those larvae could have hatched in the next couple of days, and the park would’ve been overwhelmed with adult mosquitoes... not a fun time for visitors, and a lot more work (and money) to fix later.

    So even though it was a shorter week, it was full of hands-on work, cross-team collaboration, and a few good reminders that every observation matters. Whether it’s a tick or a mosquito, staying curious and paying attention can make a real difference.