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What a beauty! I had quite a few of them this year eating the corn at the base of my maple trees that I had spread for the squirrels. I also had a pair of pileated woodpeckers, a northern flicker, and several downies. it seemed to be the year of the woodpecker. However, the red-bellied woodpeckers appearances always got me the most excited, as it is the least likely here in the city.
Interesting to see that woodpeckers don't just eat bugs. I wish I could get a woodpecker to eat out of my hand like the one in that video. I can hold bird feed in my hand, but no way would I hold bugs! Nuh-uh.
While I think they are neat birds, I have to get rid of woodpeckers who are eating my house.
WE have tried all the suggested things: ribbons, pie tins, smelly chemicals, mesh in their holes, drawing them away to the neighbor's by hanging suet and slowly moving it further and further away. We tried a number of other things that I found on the internet or were suggested by "experts" All they do is move to another part of the house and make more holes. I caught one in a net and drove several miles to release it, but it had a heart attack and died on the way.
Short of shooting them, I cannot find any way to get them to stop destroying our house.
And no they are not pecking for bugs in the wood. There is an urban legend oft repeated that is untrue that woodpeckers only peck on houses if there are bugs living in the wood. This is just one of those false rumors that becomes so widely repeated it is taken as an absolute truth. They make a hole, pull out insulation and move in. If I let them stay then them and their babies come back next year to make more holes.
I hate to kill them, but I cannot spend thousands each year repairing their damage.
While I think they are neat birds, I have to get rid of woodpeckers who are eating my house.
WE have tried all the suggested things: ribbons, pie tins, smelly chemicals, mesh in their holes, drawing them away to the neighbor's by hanging suet and slowly moving it further and further away. We tried a number of other things that I found on the internet or were suggested by "experts" All they do is move to another part of the house and make more holes. I caught one in a net and drove several miles to release it, but it had a heart attack and died on the way.
Short of shooting them, I cannot find any way to get them to stop destroying our house.
And no they are not pecking for bugs in the wood. There is an urban legend oft repeated that is untrue that woodpeckers only peck on houses if there are bugs living in the wood. This is just one of those false rumors that becomes so widely repeated it is taken as an absolute truth. They make a hole, pull out insulation and move in. If I let them stay then them and their babies come back next year to make more holes.
I hate to kill them, but I cannot spend thousands each year repairing their damage.
My neighbor had the same problem. Another neighbor, who is a professional carpenter, built a walk-in closet for the first neighbor. The closet extended out under the soffit of the house. Then a woodpecker came along and started making HUGE holes in the outer wall, which hadn't yet had any siding put over it. There were no bugs in the wood, as this was all new construction. I think the carpenter-neighbor came back and treated the wood when he made the repairs, but I'm not sure what he used on it as a woodpecker deterrent. I'll ask him for you.
Got rid of the current woodpecker. He made a hole in our carriage house, went inside, got lost and could not get back out (apparently). I found him dead on the floor downstairs. Sorry but I was not sad to see him dead.
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