I heard a tap, tap, tapping so gentle, I wondered
if I was dreaming, Yet, again I heard it, stronger now
and persistent as spring’s greening. I found the hammer:
a red-headed, narrow beak, attacking my cedar siding.
He flew away, then returned later in the day, to spray
woodchips off my home, my garage and onto my driveway.
I heard a peck, peck, pecking as I sipped my morning
tea. Had the bird come back just in time to annoy me?
Yet, why? I wondered would this villain pummel my nest
when I wouldn’t wreck his home, or try to digest it.
I filled the hole made from his embrace.
I hung reflective tape and sprayed amounts of mace.
Then, added metal flashing to the space he liked to greet;
Repainted my house with an odor he wouldn’t eat.
Yet still the bird persists in drilling my outside walls;
in knocking a new rhythm that I hear in all the halls.
I’ve done all I could to thwart this fixed advance and
tell myself to just give-in, ‘cause I never stood a chance.
By Annette Gagliardi
We have a downy woodpecker who loves the flavor of our cedar siding. On the one hand, it’s reducing the insect population in (and on) our house. Because woodpeckers feed on wood-boring insects, they actually can help eliminate—or at least, reduce the insect population. But they are also making new holes for the invasion of more insects, such as termites, carpenter bees and ants.
In fact, we have several woodpeckers, so when I refer to ‘he’, it is a collective of both male and female birds who send their tattering rattle around the neighborhood, drilling holes in trees, utility poles and homes.
Downy woodpeckers are also known as Batchelder’s Woodpeckers, Gairdner’s Woodpeckers, Southern Downy or Willow Woodpeckers. The most familiar woodpeckers, Downies are the smallest of America’s Woodpeckers. The Hairy woodpecker, a close relative, (and a bit larger) is also active in this neighborhood. It is difficult to tell the difference at times, but their like-minded drilling for insects results in the same damage on my siding.
“A group of woodpeckers has many collective nouns, including a “descent”, “drumming”, and “gatling” of woodpeckers.” from Beauty of Birds website at: https://www.beautyofbirds.com/downywoodpeckers.html
Most people will recognize the woodpecker from its insistent drumming — usually on their house. Yet woodpecker vocalizations vary. The calls are often a sharp “pik” or a “tick,tchick, tcherrick” . Its song is not a pleasant tune; the Downy’s drill is a bit slower than larger woodpecker species. During nesting season, both female and male woodpeckers utter a sharp, whinnying call of descending notes.
Woodpeckers can be observed in early morning and sunset as they are foraging. The best time to get a glimpse of them is during breeding season, between April and July, unless they are drilling new holes in your house. It seems like the most frequent time woodpeckers knock on my house is just after I’ve brewed my morning beverage and sat down at the computer to compose, research or study. Then I must get up to investigate the tapping. Even then, it seems that the woodpecker flies away before I get outside to throw a stone or shake my fist.
Woodpeckers primarily inhabit wooded areas and forests. They prefer dead or dying tree trunks that are easier to hollow out roosting or nesting cavities. Yet some species, such as the Downy, are often found in neighborhoods filled with high numbers of old-growth trees.
Some woodpecker species require very specific conditions for their homes; for example, the Red-cockeded Woodpecker can only live in mature pine forests in the southeastern United States. Other species can be found throughout North America and around the world.
Downys, much like other small birds, have a short life span—on average, due to high mortality rates during their first year of life. The Downy’s lifespan is brief compared to that of larger birds. By the time it is five years old, it is considered elderly, since most Downys don’t live past the age of two. There are exceptions, however.
A Downy that was captured and banded at the San Francisco Bay bird observatory was recaptured eleven years and one month later. Its plumage at the time of its initial capture indicated that it was at least a year old. This meant that at the time of the second capture it was at least 12 years of age. Even this is not the record for a Downy’s lifespan. (From Beauty of Birds at: https://www.beautyofbirds.com/downywoodpeckers.html#calls)
I think that bird is the one knocking holes in my house. As fast as we fill them up, he drills a new one. The garage is not off-limits either. So, both structures on our property have metal flashing protecting the corners of various rows of siding. There are holes filled with steel wool, wood putty and acrylic filler.
Studies have shown that woodpeckers are most attracted to homes with grooved wooden siding, and that describes my cedar wood siding to a T. They have been excavating the wood at the corners of my house for several years, now. They damage shingles, siding, trim, gutters, windowsills, and eves.
Here are some ways to prohibit woodpeckers from chewing up your home:
1. Offer bird feed in other parts of your yard. Suet, peanuts, sunflower seeds, or jelly are things woodpeckers like. Suet is especially attractive to woodpeckers. Keep the feeder as far from you house as possible.
2. Repair the holes they have made, with wood caulk or expandable foam. Cover over this with woodpecker deterrent paint. Simple oil-based paints or those made with polyurethan will also help keep out insects, which then diminishes the woodpecker population that attract them to your home. There are special paints that contain chemicals to that have an odor and taste offensive to woodpeckers.
3. Nail on metal flashing after you have repaired the holes, to prevent the birds coming back. This is dense enough to prohibit them from creating new holes and makes an unpleasant noise when drilled.
4. Remove roosting areas by using bird spikes or netting that prevents the birds from landing. This protects sills, shingles, trim and gutters. Make sure that your netting is at least ¾” thick and that there is a gap of a few inches between the netting and the building.
5. Use visual tactics like flashing tape (made from Mylar), mylar balloons, or reflective devices. Aluminum pie tins, CDs and small mirrors are also things you can tie or attach to the place where the woodpeckers have been drilling.
6. Fake birds such as owls or falcons, or scarecrows, even balloons with large eyes drawn on scare the birds away.
7. Audible detractors include distress calls, or calls from feral cats, foxes, hawks or coyotes. Play any of these calls on a speaker that can be heard outside your home – near the place where the woodpecker has been drilling. Make sure the sounds are not loud enough to disturb your neighbors. Even hanging a wind chime near the place where they have been drilling can deter birds.
8. Ultrasonic repellants, (which seems pretty new-age to me, but you tech-buffs will love), use a high-frequency noise that birds find irritating and difficult to get used to. Many can be motion activated. I wonder how they affect the dogs and other animals in the area, but when you are desperate, you will try anything.
9. Simple birdhouses offer new roosting areas that are away from your house and eliminate the need for the birds drilling your house. Place them as far away from your house as possible.
10. Sprinklers and floodlights can be used to your advantage. Motion sensors help keep woodpeckers, and other intruders, at bay.
No matter what you use to detract the birds from your house, the best solution is learning to live with these intruders because in the scheme of things, it is we who are the intruders. And we should all learn to just get along.
Resources:
Beauty of Birds: Downy Woodpeckers at website at: https://www.beautyofbirds.com/downywoodpeckers.html
How to get rid of woodpeckers by Pests.org at: https://www.pests.org/get-rid-of-woodpeckers/
We have woodpecker stories for days by Laura Yuen, Star Tribune Sunday, December 5, 2021.