I first encountered Lone Star ticks on Tuckernuck Island in 2015. I had one adult female hitchhike back to Nantucket on me, and I reported it to Tick Report. At the time, it was only the second report from Nantucket, with many more known from Tuckernuck Island. Of course, birds fly easily from one island to another, and deer swim. It was just a matter of time before Nantucket and all of its available habitat became the next place for Lone Star ticks to populate.

eastern, south-central, and mid-Atlantic states, their distribution has been expanding. Lone Star ticks can now be found as far west as Colorado and Wyoming and as far north as Maine. They now co-occur with blacklegged ticks in coastal Massachusetts, including Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket, Tuckernuck, Martha’s Vineyard, Naushon, and Cuttyhunk.