Ticks really suck.

That might be punny but it is also true.
No account of forest OR xeric life would be complete without mentioning ticks.

Amblyomma cajennense from Jim Hogg County Texas; male on left – female on right

Amblyomma cajennense
I encountered this pair, a male and a female, while doing field work in South Texas, rather than here.

adult male of Dermacentor occidentalis

adult male of Dermacentor occidentalis

Dermacentor occidentalis
Pacific Coast tick
This is the only one of these I’ve ever found here at home in over a dozen years of living here. This one, shown inside of a plastic bag, was noticed hanging spread-eagle from a blade of grass in June 2014. The mouthparts are considerably shorter than the ticks shown above or below.

Female and male Ixodes pacificus; ticks will feed on ticks.

Ixodes pacificus
One of the tick species from home. It MIGHT be the most common one that lives here.

Just cold, not dead.

Notice that barbed hypostome?

A male Ixodes pacificus from Mendocino County, California

A male Ixodes pacificus from Mendocino County, California

It amazes me how small ticks can be. This is that last male Ixodes shown above; after it was dead.

Its feeding implements are the featured image.

Above is an adult male Ixodes pacificus.
Below is a larvae with six legs rather than 8 legs like a nymph or an adult. Larvae can supposedly only transmit Bartonella.
For a sense of scale, those are human hairs.

Hopefully this one was a larvae but I can’t tell for certain if it has 6 or 8 legs. It was destroyed during removal.

Ixodes pacificus that was noticed a day late

This one was clearly a nymph. Bigger than a larvae but still too small.

This is that same, now dead, nymph of Ixodes pacificus after having its meal interrupted.

This nymph was feeding for a bit longer

Ixodes pacificus nymph feeding

Ixodes pacificus nymph feeding

This nymph has been fed longer still

Ixodes pacificus nymph after a night of feeding

Ixodes pacificus nymph after a night of feeding

And another that was somehow missed a whole day!

Ixodes pacificus nymph noticed too late

Notice the hugely engorged Ixodes on the right ear of this woodrat?

Neotoma fuscipes; with Ixodes pacificus