When an infected water fowl excretes, it releases the parasite flatworm eggs. Mallard ducks, geese and even muskrats can carry different parasitic flatworm species.Merganser ducks can travel 1-2 miles along a shoreline each day.Most all of the young Merganser chicks carry the flatworm while only half of the adult birds do.
In Michigan, Common Merganser ducks are the species that most commonly carries the Swimmer’s Itch flatworm in their digestive tract. The natural cycle involves 2 hosts for different life stages of the parasitic flatworm.
