I knew I shouldn't have continued to do literature searches on this subject.
Reaserchers at USDA in Beltsville did an experiment where they put a little
mesh packet of live deer tick and lone star tick nymphs into a load of
washing. They tried washing in cold, warm or hot water. They did not state
whether they used Tide, Cheer or Brand-X detergent. Here's their result:

"To ascertain whether typical laundering practices kill ticks on clothes,
small polyester mesh packets containing host-seeking lone star tick,
Amblyomma americanum, and blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis nymphs, were
placed among clothing washed in cold, warm and hot water in a clothes
washer. Ticks were also placed with the damp washed clothing in a clothes
dryer for 1 h cycles at high heat and air only. Nearly all nymphs of both
tick species survived the cold and warm washes. Most lone star ticks
survived the hot wash, as did about half the blacklegged ticks. All the
ticks that were subjected to the 1 h cycle of high heat in the dryer died,
but some of both species survived the air only drying."

The moral is to wash your birding clothes in hot water and dry the heck out
of them in a hot drier!

Article summary available at USDA site:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?SEQ_NO_115=144429

I was going to offer Tom Marko my deck of Heritage playing cards with 54
pictures of "Water and Shore Birds" in exchange for his Swarovskis, but I
think I'll just do my birding from inside after this...

Mary LaMarca
Silver Spring, MD