# Woody thinks my house is a tree. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442 "2010-08-16T20:00:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/1 "2010-08-16T20:00:40Z")
To give the bastard some credit, the house is a log cabin so I can see why he’s confused. But, I don’t want him pecking holes in my house. I really don’t like the idea of using guns on animals (even BB guns) and poison might hurt all the birds and I like the birds. So, what are my options? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/2 "2010-08-16T20:08:48Z")
I think woodpeckers hammer on people’s houses in an attempt to establish their territory. It makes a louder noise. It may stop on its own, though I suspect one of our resident ornithologists will set me straight on this one. ---
**Author:** ![SmithCommaJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@SmithCommaJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmithCommaJohn)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/3 "2010-08-16T20:14:28Z")
My parents just built a house in a new development in a previously wooded area. The woodpeckers, perhaps in an act of vengeance, have attacked all the new houses in the area quite vigorously. Anyway, a lot of the homeowners have hung long strips of shiny, holographic tape from their houses. Supposedly it scares the birds off. I’m not sure how well it works, but I do know that it’s a bit of an eyesore. Here’s the stuff: [http://www.target.com/Irri-Tape-Bird-Repellent-Ribbon/dp/B000KGYXGQ](http://www.target.com/Irri-Tape-Bird-Repellent-Ribbon/dp/B000KGYXGQ) If it works, it looks like it would be a very affordable solution. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/4 "2010-08-16T22:09:09Z")
My neighbor had a repeat woodpecker visitor. Her son filled in the holes and hung a CD near the birds favorite pecking spot. Last I heard, it was working. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/5 "2010-08-17T00:00:59Z")
By any chance do you have a clock ticking inside that might sound like bugs in the wood? ---
**Author:** ![NadaHappyCamper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/6 "2010-08-17T00:41:15Z")
There are places ,online and in real life that sell carved owls and other kinds of ways to scare away birds humaneley. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/7 "2010-08-17T01:23:56Z")
When my friend had woodpeckers, we found [this product](http://www.attackspider.com/) to scare them away. I desperately wanted him to get one but he didn’t. You get one! Then post videos! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/8 "2010-08-17T01:39:27Z")
I throw nerf balls at the pigeons that roost on my window sills. They get even by shitting on my windowsills. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/9 "2010-08-17T04:57:27Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > To give the bastard some credit, the house is a log cabin so I can see why he’s confused. But, I don’t want him pecking holes in my house. Is he actually pecking holes in the wood? Or is he just drumming? If he’s drumming, it’s to announce territory. Unless you find this annoying, you might as well leave him alone. If he’s drilling small holes to go after insects, you’ve got worse problems than woodpeckers. Your house is infested with wood borers. Seems late in the season for him to be drilling a nest hole. That would be the only kind of hole I think would do substantial structural damage. ---
**Author:** ![sharding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@sharding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sharding)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/10 "2010-08-17T07:41:46Z")
We have a woodpecker who sits on top of our chimney and pecks loudly on the metal top. It sounds like a jackhammer inside the house. The first time it happened, I really thought it was a jackhammer, and I wondered who the hell would be rude enough to start jackhammering at 7:30 in the morning. Very annoying. But I haven’t figured out a good way to get rid of him. The top of the chimney is much higher on the house than I feel safe climbing, and I don’t really know what I’d do once I got up there anyway. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/11 "2010-08-17T12:20:53Z")
[quote=“Colibri, post:9, topic:550442”] > [@congodwarf](#): > > If he’s drilling small holes to go after insects, you’ve got worse problems than woodpeckers. Your house is infested with wood borers. I don’t know if he’s drilling holes at all the spots he’s pecking but he definitely is where I found him. The thing I find most annoying about this is that we have the full Terminix service and we had 2 guys out in the last week. One guy was doing the yearly termite inspection and the other was doing the 3 month everything inspection. We all know that carpenter bees have been an issue here (the initial Terminix inspector told us last November) and we had seen some on our back porch roof earlier in the summer. But, we had them come out to treat and we haven’t seen any since. Of course since I started this thread, the little jerk hasn’t come back at all. Maybe he didn’t find anything and got discouraged. Oh, we have 2 clocks in the living room, both of which chime, but neither ticks audibly. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/12 "2010-08-17T12:28:58Z")
We had a woodpecker outside my window when I was younger. I put a rubber snake on the roof of the garage, by my window. It worked great, until the man who cleaned the gutters found it. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/13 "2010-08-17T12:36:32Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Is he actually pecking holes in the wood? Or is he just drumming? > > If he’s drumming, it’s to announce territory. Well thanks for clearing up our woodpecker mystery. He’d peck at our metal gutter downspout about 7:00 every morning and we’d no idea why he didn’t learn that no bugs were to be found at that specific locale. Now it makes sense. Another woodpecker problem identified by our local news media was that of broken sideview mirrors on cars. At first they thought it was the work of adolescent vandals, then someone saw a woodpecker hammering away at one until it broke. Perhaps they saw the reflection and thought it was a rival? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/14 "2010-08-17T17:52:55Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > We all know that carpenter bees have been an issue here (the initial Terminix inspector told us last November) Carpenter bees aren’t much of a problem, although I’m sure Terminix uses them to drum up business. They make one hole per female per season, but generally only in already soft or decaying wood, and they don’t spread the holes out, thus tending to riddle one piece instead of damaging everything. The holes are shallow, and [structural damage is considered minor or nonexistent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bee#Characteristics). The males can’t sting and both sexes have a reputation for getting along with people and even being handled. Wood inhabited by carpenter bees is wood that’s soft and going bad anyway. After a couple of years, replacing riddled stringers or timbers (outside the nesting season) will make the house stronger, cost less than an exterminator if you do it yourself, and not kill any bees. And the bees won’t hurt you or your family. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-thinks-my-house-is-a-tree/550442/15 "2010-08-20T19:49:28Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > > [@congodwarf](#): > > > > We all know that carpenter bees have been an issue here (the initial Terminix inspector told us last November) > > Carpenter bees aren’t much of a problem, although I’m sure Terminix uses them to drum up business. They make one hole per female per season, but generally only in already soft or decaying wood, and they don’t spread the holes out, thus tending to riddle one piece instead of damaging everything. The holes are shallow, and [structural damage is considered minor or nonexistent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bee#Characteristics). > > The males can’t sting and both sexes have a reputation for getting along with people and even being handled. > > Wood inhabited by carpenter bees is wood that’s soft and going bad anyway. After a couple of years, replacing riddled stringers or timbers (outside the nesting season) will make the house stronger, cost less than an exterminator if you do it yourself, and not kill any bees. And the bees won’t hurt you or your family. I’ve seen carpenter bees do significant damage to woodwork on new buildings. Actually, I see it regularly in Georgia every Spring. I had to replace a brand new door and dozens of feet of trimwork this April because of carpenter bees.