Red-billed choughs can also carry mites, but a study of the feather mite " Gabucinia delibata ", acquired by young birds a few months after fledging when they join communal roosts, suggested that this parasite actually " improved " the body condition of its host.
22.
In Europe, the only feather mite species known to live on the blue tit host is " Proctophyllodes stylifer " . " P . stylifer " however seems to be of no concern to the bird as, until now, it is only known to feed on dead feather tissue . " P . stylifer " lives all its developmental stages, i . e . egg, larva, protonymph, tritonymph and adult, within the plumage of the same host.
