&%*@!$# Woodpecker

[dafischer]

So I'm working in the barn today, and all of a sudden I hear tap, tap, tap, tap, tap outside against the wall. I stop what I'm doing...noise stops. Maybe I'm hearing things.

Start working again, tapping starts again. So I take a walk outside, and I see the little pecker giving a workout to one of the window trims. Obviously, he'd been at it for a while....





What a pain in the ass! Anyone know how to get rid of a woodpecker short of blasting the side of my barn with a 12 gauge?

[m21sniper]

Patience and a pellet rifle.

[Drdogface]

I have the SAME problem on my barn and log home. Not only the little woodpecker but the larger flickers which do even more damage. They are wary critters who take off at the slightest sound or movement and dart away low to the ground...very hard to shoot even with a shotgun. I have head that setting a rat trap on the wall below where the are pecking will get one or two but there's always more where they came from. If someone has a good solution I'm all ears...

[Jims5543]

See Hummingbird thread for ideas.

[onlycafe]

don't ask....don't tell. some woodpeckers are protected.
if you do say anything, it should be along the lines of, "he fell down."

[legion]

Did you know that woodpeckers can travel at 1200 fps?

That would explain how they impaled themselves on some #7 shot tomorrow...

[Z-man]

Dave - ya may want to check closely for bugs like termites -- Woodpeckers don't typically chew on wood - they drive through the wood to get at the insects.

-Z-man.

[Gogar]

I had luck once by spraying some nasty-smelling bug spray in the area where he was making a hole. But then again, it might have been coincidence. 45 minutes and a good pellet gun seems like a more reliable option. More satisfying, too.

[dhoward]

Hang a suet block nearby.
Then pellet rifle.

[legion]

Originally Posted by Z-man

Dave - ya may want to check closely for bugs like termites -- Woodpeckers don't typically chew on wood - they drive through the wood to get at the insects.

-Z-man.

Yeah, those holes look like the woodpeckers are digging through to insect tunnels.

In other words, the woodpeckers are a secondary problem.

[stomachmonkey]

Woodpeckers are not the problem. You need to inspect for insects.

Edit: Never mind.

[nostatic]

yeah, the woodpeckers are doing you a favor by pointing out your rampant termite problem. You should buy them dinner.

Oh wait, you already did

[Aerkuld]

So the woodpecker is actually doing him a favor.

I don't envy you, it's going to be really hard shooting bees with a pellet gun!

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Aerkuld

I don't envy you, it's going to be really hard shooting bees with a pellet gun!

I am available for hire.

[89911]

I've had numerous problems with my cedar house and woodpeckers. The bird is simply looking to make noise and your big hollow wood home is just the source to create a sound that a mate can hear for miles. They generally are not searching for food by pecking. Why else would they do this to aluminum gutters? I bought a pump pellet gun and sighted it in but the thing must of flew off (really, I'm telling the truth). I've heard large rat traps nailed to the sides of the house with peanut butter work also. A little less discrete, though.

[RWebb]

actually, the pattern looks like the woodpecker was searching for food.

I would call an exterminator RIGHT AWAY

Do NOT shoot at or harm the woodpecker. ALL of them are protected as Migratory Birds. SOME woodpeckers are really really protected as endangered or threatened species. In the latter case, anybody - not just the govt. can sue you.

But the Feds are NOT kidding around with migratory birds. An older frined of mine - a scientist and a mentor in NM, got tangeld up with them. After about $50,000 in legal fees they agreed to not send him to prison for netting the birds he studies without a federal permit. He studies behavior & I don't even think he was killing them (tends to modify their behavior). But he had to gie a big apology at a major scientific symposium and then publish it ina scientifc journal. Big embarassment.

CALL your local Agricultural extension agent. Ask them what to do. Your tax $$ already pay for their job & they are not just for farmers. They will usually know of a local bird pest expert that can convince the bird to leave or trap it alive and take it away.

But ti really does like an insect hunting pattern -- note how the holes tend to floow the grain of the wood - that's b/c bugs tunnel thru the little tubes in the wood (xlylem/phloem).

[alf]

Try wrapping some alum foil around the planks, we did that with a birch tree in our yard that a local wood pecker was fond off and he went to the neighbors tree

Don't shoot it, it could be more trouble than the annoyance and they are kinda cool to have around.

I would check for bugs while I am up there.

[widgeon13]

Remove the trim strip and see what is behind it. or in it.

[ken_xman]

Go to home depot and get bee killer spray. Spray the holes in the photo and soak the area surrounding. They hate the smell. I had one hammering against the aluminum outside my bedroom at 5:00 in the morning for a week. I was considering trying to shoot it with the .40 from inside it was so damn annoying!
Spray worked!

[masraum]

Check out the first picture. I see two spots with what look like stuff running down the outside of the house, probably from the holes where the bees got in, and in one of the spots where the woodpecker was pecking, it looks like he got through to a bee "tunnel". It looks like there's a void in the wood.