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Background  Migratory birds can cross geographical and environmental barriers and are thereby able to facilitate transmission of tick-borne pathogens both as carriers of infected ticks and as reservoirs of pathogenic microorganisms.  Ixodes ricinus  is one of the most abundant tick species in the Northern Hemisphere and a main vector of several  Babesia  species, some which pose a potential threat to human and animal health. At present only two cases of overt babesiosis in humans have so far been reported in Sweden. To better understand the potential role of birds as disseminators of zoonotic  Babesia  protozoan parasites, we investigated the presence of  Babesia  species in ticks removed from migratory birds.    Methods  Ticks were collected from birds captured at Ottenby Bird Observatory, south-eastern Sweden, from March to November 2009. Ticks were molecularly identified to species, and morphologically to developmental stage, and the presence of  Babesia  protozoan parasites was determined by real-time PCR.    Results  In total, 4601 migratory birds of 65 species were examined for tick infestation. Ticks removed from these birds have previously been investigated for the presence of  Borrelia  bacteria and the tick-borne encephalitis virus. In the present study, a total of 1102 ticks were available for molecular analysis of  Babesia  protozoan parasites. We found that 2.4% of the ticks examined, all  I. ricinus , were positive for mammal-associated  Babesia  species. Out of all  Babesia -positive samples,  Babesia venatorum  was the most prevalent (58%) species, followed by  Babesia microti  (38%) and  Babesia capreoli  (4.0%).  B. venatorum  and  B. capreoli  were detected in  I. ricinus  larvae, whereas  B. microti  was only present in  I. ricinus  nymphs. This supports the view that the two first-mentioned species are vertically (transovarially) transmitted in the tick population, in contrast to  B. microti . The largest number of  Babesia -infected ticks was removed from the common redstart ( Phoenicurus phoenicurus ) and European robin ( Erithacus rubecula ).    Conclusions  This study reveals that  Babesia  protozoan parasites are present in ticks infesting migratory birds in south-eastern Sweden, which could potentially lead to the dissemination of these tick-borne microorganisms into new areas, thus posing a threat to humans and other mammals.Supplementary Information  The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13071-021-04684-8.

Three Babesia species in Ixodes ricinus ticks from migratory birds in Sweden