Woodpeckers

[HowardRoark]

This question has implications for FYI, but I am looking more for the pragmatic answers.

Does anyone have problems with woodpeckers ruining their house? I do, and I am lost as to how to solve this problem.

They have made holes all over the side of my house and next to the windows.

I have fake owls out there and that barely does anything……and NO, it is not because I have ants in the wood they are after. I evidently live in a wildlife sanctuary.

It is illegal to kill these damn birds too.

[mraynrand]

[mraynrand]

^^^ It had to be done

[mraynrand]

My advice: Do not hire a walrus to extricate the woodpeckers - he will fail.

[Patler]

This question has implications for FYI, but I am looking more for the pragmatic answers.

Does anyone have problems with woodpeckers ruining their house? I do, and I am lost as to how to solve this problem.

They have made holes all over the side of my house and next to the windows.

I have fake owls out there and that barely does anything……and NO, it is not because I have ants in the wood they are after. I evidently live in a wildlife sanctuary.

It is illegal to kill these damn birds too.

We have had problems with woodpeckers off and on for 20 years. I fasten foil streamers near their attack sites as soon as I realize they are there. We generally have regular winds/breezes, and the fluttering streamers has scared them away. One year I ended up chasing them to three different locations before they left and found a tree, neighbors house or some place other than mine. Shiny streamers have worked the best, at least 3 or 4 feet long.

[Patler]

One year we had one that spent a week trying to peck into the metal cap on our fire place flue. Scared the heck out of me the first couple times I heard it. Persistent little bugger, but he finally accepted the fact he did not have a metal penetrating beak.

[George Cumby]

You have to move the Owls regularly or they get habituated to them.

+1 foil streamers.

Aggressively displacing them whenever they start messing with the house; banging on the wall from the inside, going outside and chasing them.

Red Ryder.

What species? If you are in the West, Acorn WPs are a pain because of their social structure.

[mraynrand]

My nephew is a crack shot. He is even an expert with a blow gun. Silent and deadly. Too bad he is in Milwaukee area or I would send him over.

[HowardRoark]

I used a pellet gun and it lodged in my bedroom ceiling....put a nice clean hole though the curtains too.

[hoosier]

I suggest introducing a natural predator. What animals eat woodpeckers? My guess is: foxes, cats and hawks. Owls too if the woodpecker stays out late. You could try putting a cat on your tin roof and see what happens.

[woodbuck27]

Here's am article that addresses this topic:

http://www.greenleafpestcontrol.com/prevent-woodpeckers-damaging-home/

Here's some suggestions for how to handle the problem:

http://articles.extension.org/pages/34646/how-do-i-stop-woodpeckers-from-pecking-on-my-house

Highlights of this article:

Unfortunately, there is no easy guaranteed solution. So with that being said, try the following strategies:

1. Cover all holes as soon as possible.

Place aluminum flashing over the areas where the woodpecker is pecking. The flashing will stop the pecking at that spot because:

1) it is metal,

2) it changes the sound, and 3) woodpeckers don't like shiny objects. Just make sure that the woodpecker is not living in your home.

2.Harass and scare the woodpecker causing damage:

Using one or more of the following techniques:

Mylar tape: You can also try running some Mylar tape (1-inch-wide strips) around the area where he is pecking. Woodpeckers don't like shiny objects.

If you don't have Mylar, use tinfoil or small mirrors. Remember, no harassment technique works all the time or in every situation.

3. Try Distress tapes:

There are machines that digitally recreate woodpecker distress calls. These are NOT ultrasonic devices, which do not work. When you turn on the device, it spooks the woodpecker.

4. Try Scary balloons:

These balloons mimic the look of an owl, which spooks the woodpeckers.

5.Try a garden hose:

One animal damage controller recommends placing a garden hose with a sprinkler set at an angle to reach where the bird is drumming. The woodpeckers leave after a few squirts because they don't like hanging on to wet structures. There is an automatic sprinkler on the market called the Scarecrow which may be useful when the temperatures are above freezing.

6. Try an Attack spider:

This is a relatively new (2003) technique. It activates using a sound detector to scare woodpeckers through sight and motion.

7.Try Owl effigies:

These are only effective if you are willing to move them around on a daily basis. Understand that at best the effigy will work only in the short term, if at all.

8. Exclusion techniques:

If woodpeckers are damaging your siding under an eave, hang some netting from the eave line down to the ground. If the net is extended away from the house wall, the woodpecker can't get close enough to damage the wood. Some homes actually leave the hooks up year round and then hang the netting as needed.

Also, as soon as you notice problems, take action quickly before the woodpecker decides your home is a nice place to live.

[woodbuck27]

I suggest introducing a natural predator. What animals eat woodpeckers? My guess is: foxes, cats and hawks. Owls too if the woodpecker stays out late. You could try putting a cat on your tin roof and see what happens.

Ohh !? .....For sure !

[Cheesehead Craig]

We have had problems with woodpeckers off and on for 20 years. I fasten foil streamers near their attack sites as soon as I realize they are there. We generally have regular winds/breezes, and the fluttering streamers has scared them away. One year I ended up chasing them to three different locations before they left and found a tree, neighbors house or some place other than mine. Shiny streamers have worked the best, at least 3 or 4 feet long.

Shiny streamers worked here as well. Plus, if you get a lot of it, you can make a cape and fly around the yard.

[George Cumby]

I prefer to wear it atop me 'ead.

[3irty1]

There are three reasons a woodpecker pecks: roosting, drumming for mates, and foraging for food.

Given the time of year and the fact that its your house food seems unlikely.

If they are roosting, fill in the holes and undo their progress until they give up. Consider putting up woodpecker houses as a sort of honeypot. There are special woodpecker houses with a plexiglass sheet in front of the entrance that makes it so the bird has to climb in. Only woodpeckers can climb like this ensuring the house won't be taken over. Or else you can fill a normal bird house with saw dust. Woodpeckers are excellent excavators and it makes them feel like they built the house themselves. If you do this you'll have to keep tabs to make sure another species doesn't evict them.

If they are drumming its just to make noise. Patler's woodpecker was probably drumming. They'll seek out metal siding or gutters or whatever makes the best specticle. Its the woodpecker equivalent of this:

I have no idea what to do to prevent drumming within the law.