My parents live in a Tudor style house, with wood beams inset in plaster on the exterior.
Recently, they’ve had a woodpecker that has been regularly pecking at the beams, putting holes in them.
Does anyone know why this is happening now (after 30 years of owning the house), and how they may be able to stop it?
Many species of woodpeckers search for insect larvae and other insects with a taste for wood. Seems they can hear the creepy-crawlies in there chewing away. Perhaps those old beams now have an infestation of some sort, and the woodpecker(s) are going after them. As to how to stop it, i’ve no idea. Anyone?
I believe it could be possible to get a fake owl. I’ve never lived in an area where woodpeckers are, but I remember hearing about this in several places.
Birds aren’t stupid. If the “owl” fails to ever move, they’ll accept it as a natural part of the enironment. It might scare them off at first, but not for long.
In my experience, Q.E.D has it right - most woodpeckers don’t peck wood for the heck of it, there’s something for them to eat in the there. Get rid of the insects, the woodpeckers will stop pecking.
Trying to scare them away might work short term (they’ll come back), but then you still have to worry about whatever insect is living in the wood.
I’m more of an insect and rodent guy, but I’ll take a stab at it.
Actually, woodpeckers, from what I know of them, actually do peck wood “for the heck of it.” Or what passes for that to our minds.
Keep in mind, humans apply human logic to what they observe. Animals work on instinct, and a woodpecker’s instinct is to peck holes in wood surfaces. While this often provides food for them, they also do it because that’s how they create hollows for their homes, and they do it because…well, it’s what they do.
That being said, there may actually be insects in the house (although if your parents live in the northeast, you know how cold it’s been, and there would be evidence of infestation inside the room where the birds are). An inspection by a trained pest guy may be in order, but I doubt they have a serious insect problem.
As far as repelling the birds, I’ve heard owls, rubber snakes, etc., work in the short term, but Q.E.D. is right: once they become accepted as part of the environment, the birds ignore them.
Your parents may do better if they install some kind of whirlygig around the area. Constant movement will spook the birds. It may work better if they’re shiny, too, and catch the light. Flashing lights are not real popular with birds.
Now…why is this happening now, after 30 years of homeownership? Simple. Expanding territority. Your parents’ house happens to be within the range of this particular bird.
Male woodpeckers also pound away on a surface simply to make a lot of noise. It announces their presence to other males of their species (“this is my territory, Woody!”), and helps attract mates.
My parents used to live in a house with a metal cap on the chimney, and one of the local woodpeckers discovered it. You wouldn’t believe the racket that caused in the house. There was nothing to be done about it, but wait for the woodpecker to find his heart’s desire, and settle down to raise a brood.
When I was a lad I used to spend a lot of time at my Grandparent’s house in the summers. One summer a woodpecker decided it would make pecking the aluminum gutter a daily ritual. Man was it ever loud!
Well…someone had to say this sooner or later. As horrible as it sounds, I solved the problem with a pellet and 12 pumps of my air rifle. He just became too predictable and one day I lay in wait and now he sleeps with the fishes (because I disposed of him in the nearby pond).
You may or may not have the stomach for his approach, but it worked.
Effective…but also quite illegal in many places.
Quite so. I used to work the graveyard shift in this one place where a woodpecker made a morning ritual of hammering away at an aluminum lamp post.
We actually climbed up there and had a look, once. The finish was shot to hell in this one spot, and there were several small dimples, like on a golf ball.
Couldn’t help but wonder how long a woodpecker has to peck away at a lamp post to do THAT…
Every other year or so a male woodpecker decides that my dad’s downspout is a suitable noisemaking device. He uses the .22 approach to woodpecker control.
Although as long as the bird doesn’t start before 6 am, my dad feels he should live and let live, but if the bird wakes him up more than three days in a row, he turns into a woodpecker killing machine.
Thanks for the info. Somehow I don’t see my parents bringing out the artillery in their suburban neighborhood, but maybe a whirlygig will help.
I went through it all, whirleygigs, aluminum tape, 1 1/2 gallons of bug killer, yadda yadda yadda. A snowy woodpecker nest is what I finally resulted to.
Yep, I caved.
I stated my experience, sorry. After further research it does seem woodpeckers do peck to mark territory and find a mate. However, if it happens in winter (not mating season) it might be insects in the wood. We had a overhang that was leaking, and a tree limb that touched the house (trimmed now) that was a recipe for carpenter ant infestation.
That was causing the woodpecker to peck at our house. $7000 and a new roof later, no more carpenter ants, no more woodpeckers pecking away. Sweet silence.
Well, since it’s the middle of winter on Long Island, where my parents live, perhaps it’s an infestation problem. I’ll suggest they have a pest control company check the house out as well.
Given the circumstances, that sounds the most likely to me. If they are drilling lots of small holes in the winter, they are probably going after wood-boring insects. Getting rid of the insects may resolve the problem (as well as keeping the house from falling down.)