Not sure you construction guys and woodworkers can answer this question but here goes: I have a rough-sawn cedar home and the cedar is stained in latex stain. I have woodpeckers who are destroying my early morning sleep and my siding. I have filled holes with caulk – they just create new ones – I have insterted wood fillers – they create new ones. Sort of making my home a metal encased fortress is there any easy remedy? Oh, I also bought an Owl – replica of course – and placed near the holes. These pesky birds know what is real and what is fake. Wish I did. And the bird is protected in my area so I cannot send the local kids out with bb guns. Suggestions?
Mike C
Replies
Woodies are chasin bugs in (or behind) the wood. Kill the bugs.
FWIW Father in law had the same problem... turned out to be wood bee grubs bein bird breakfast.
Troy Sprout
Square, Level & Plumb Renovations
I thought the same thing Troy - the bug breakfast thing - those grubs must be lots of protein. Anyway the pest removal company said the woodpecker is simply marking his territory. The holes are all 3 inches apart to the 1/4 inch and at right angles to the ground. If you look into the woods there is a tree some 30 yards away marked in the same exact way. He is making me realize how early sunrise actually is. Further suggestions or I could call a different pest company and get a second opinion.Thanks, Mike C.
No real experience, but here are a couple of things that I would try.
Add an owl recording that runs off a noise activated switch.
Or add spotlights to the house that are turned on by the noise activated switch.
Let us know if you find something that works.
If that's what's happening, that little b*stard will nail at anything, even aluminum.
Damn the law... pellet practice sounds reasonable. Otherwise, dunno, 'cept some sort of barrier/siding that he can't grip. Troy Sprout
Square, Level & Plumb Renovations
Ortho or generic Malathion sprayed on the siding should help. Bugs are the culprit. You need to remove the food.
Buy one of those $1.00 metal cage suet feeders, put real beef suet inside (free or 50cents at the butcher) and put it out back - if they are looking for food they may go for the easy meal instead of your siding.
I had the same problem a couple years back. Boy did I feel helpless. From looking into the cause I got the impression that it happens either because they're getting at food or it's some kind of mating thing. I had the house repainted in the fall of that year and I was very concerned about it happening the following spring.
I ended up putting up a lot of mylar/mettalic/reflective strips, hanging them from the fascia and rake boards. I didn't have any more problems, but I'm not convinced it was because of anythng I did. The mylar strips eventually ripped because of the wind. From speaking with a relative who has lived in the same town for over forty years, it turns out that the same year I had the problem she did also and she never had the problem before or since. She was told the bug and mating explanation from a pest control company.
There are different moise makers and fake ginat owls/eyeballs/spiders available as detterents on the web. not sure if they work. There are different sprays that can be applied but how long are they going to last?
Let us know how you make out, especially if you find something that works.
Ok here in colorado we have Flickers (big obnoxious peckers) they do a lot of damage. In some cases they may be looking for food, sometimes not.
They are territorial birds and mark thier area by ... pecking.This includes metal gutters et al. The peckers did enough damage to my folks house it cost around 10k to wrap chimneys in kevlar under a new coat of stucco, yes they pecked through the stucco. I doubt they were looking for bugs!
The peckers will just move to an adjacent location on the same house. Yuo have to rid of ALL of them or the problem will continue. I would use the 3 s rule. Best of luck to ya.
So, they pecked through the stucco?
I was about to stucco some Flicker- ravaged gables this coming spring, should I come up with a new plan?
I was going to use jumbo-tex , metal lath , and a western two-coat to renew and I thought protect the gables from peckers. Now I'm worried.
"Citius, Altius, Fortius"
Mike,
As others have already stated, Woody may be looking for food, but maybe not. He may be calling a mate or sounding out his territory. When they beat on siding it can sound like a jackhammer. Good luck.
Around here,the orchards use aluminum ladders. The flickers like to "sound off" and go to these ladders .I think its mating time. It sounds like a rivet gun,brrrrrrrrrr.then they they ka ka ka ka then brrrrrrrr. I swear they prefer aluminum to any other thing to make noise with.
Have ran into this before and came up with a solution that has worked for over two years now...Seriously, this works!
Go down to your local drugstore and buy several handheld vanity mirrors that magnify your image when you look in. Buy the kind with the handle and then hang them on the house where the birds are pecking. They will see the enlarged bird, think "holy @#$%" and look someplace else to mark territory.
why a mirror? Hell, just paint a giant sized pecker on the gable end.
12 guage.
blue
What about a motion activated sprinkler head. Worked wonders with a deer problem my mothers 2nd ex husband had. Scarred the snot out of the deer, and they went away soggy.
good fun.
I was about to break in and make a similar suggestion. I was thinking of the sprinklers you stake in the ground angled to hit the house where they are pecking and then connect it to a sound activated switch or a remote control to turn on.
Might also try looking for a stuffed owl and setting that out
Not estful, but a speaker positioned and pointed at the site connected to some loud music with a sound activated turn on switch.1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
my father in law had a 12 volt powered screech box on his boat that scared away EVERYTHING including neighbors. not sure it would be real popular in a neighborhood though.
These pesky birds know what is real and what is fake. Wish I did. And the bird is protected in my area so I cannot send the local kids out with bb guns.
Staple a Spotted Owl to the side of your house; a real one:)
I built some cedar birdhouses and placed them on the siding, sort of like condos......the birds seem to go crazy around the opening in the little houses , until the wrens show up
maybe ???
"Short of making my home a metal encased fortress is there any easy remedy?"
Making your home a metal encased fortress would not work anyway, might make it worse. It is a mating ritual. You'll only have the problem during mating season, then it will stop. Metal would make the noise even louder! Believe me it wouldn't stop them and may even ecourage them because they (males) want to make the loudest noise possible. Just like humans, ain't they?
Last year I had this happen on my aluminum fascia boards above the eaves troughs - it was like a machine gun going off! He preferred the two corners of the house, and one was accessible to me from a balcony so I tied a length of black curled up hose (4') onto a string and flung it up onto the roof. I left it there with the string hanging down so I could pull it down and move it every few days. Stuck a piece of "V" shaped red wire into one end to look like a snake's tongue and it kept him away from both corners of the house. After a month or so I took it down, but I have it in case he returns this year.
Woodpeckers are dissappearing because of loss of habitat. I have identified 4 different species of woodpecker in my neighbourhood. One of the problems is that people unwittingly cut down dead trees- and there goes another primary nesting and feeding spot. While it is perceived that woodpeckers damage trees the opposite is true- they actually help maintain the trees' health by eating harmfull insect pests.
Good luck with Woody. - Brian.
Similar problem. Our yard used to be home to a 4+ foot black rat snack. It would kind of startle you to see him sunning in the yard, but he frightened the stuffing out of my father-in-law on many occasions so I didn't mind the snake so much.
One day the snake disappeared. Then the woodpeckers came. We figured we had bug problems and I called 3 different exterminators, all who said the same thing - it's a mating call.
One guy, a part time exterminator/part time biology professor, applied red/silver mylar strips to the house and sprayed the siding with some mixture of Cabots oil and cayenne pepper powder. Worked perfectly for about a year.
They still won't peck where the reflective mylar strips are since when the strips flutter in the breeze, they think it's another woodpecker.
I think the fake snake rope trick might work.
As for the suet, the biologist said this will just increase the population around our house. The fake owls will just look goofy.
Stace
Edited 2/23/2006 12:33 pm ET by SCaseria
I like the idea of getting the metal fat feeder! Put it out for a few weeks, to get them use to using it, then electrify it and install ground wire on the purch. The next woodpecker that land for lunch gets fried chicken instead and you get rid of the problem! Also, it's fun to watch.
There are quite a few web sites with advice on this subject. Google "woodpecker pests". One site mentioned that owls don't work well. Most seem to mention to get on them as soon as the pest-like behaviour starts. My guess is to try out the mylar bird tape, mirrors, etc. (like others have suggested) to try and chase them over to your neighbors. Also try hanging all those unsolicited AOL CDs you've saved over the years from a string to spook'em.
Good Luck
http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/pest/Nebline/Woodpeckers.htm
http://www.wildbirds.com/pests_woodpecker.htm
http://www.birdbusters.com/woodpecker_control.html
http://www.chicagowilderness.org/wildchi/livingwild/wildtrouble/woodpeckers/index.cfm
I'm not one to hijack a thread but this one reminds of:
My BIL and myself using a paslode f350 nailgun with the nose wired back, compressor in the back, to coon hunt from the Pickup in the driveway. Mr coon pops out of the eave of the house and 6 rounds of 3 1/4" in the head and back from about 6ft away. Sure was good beer!!!! Oh and the coon he had a bad day!
Can you say "You must be a redneck if you coon hunt with a nailgun" LOL:)))))))
Try a nailgun on your woody! Just kidding, the mylar strips have worked for me also.
MK