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I was outside today and I was not paying too much attention. But on the way into my house I looked up because of the noise and there was, what looked like a Downy Woodpecker, with a two inch hole in the side of my T1-11 siding! I do check all the time and I was amazed how fast the little bugger drilled!
I like wood peckers. I have five acres of trees and some are dead. They are welcome to knock their little brains out in any of those dead trees; I could care less. But I am spoiled when it comes to my house; I was here first and I do not want to share!
It was only three or four years ago that I patched all of the damage and restained with a stain that had a 'stop mildew' additive as well as an insecticide - so why are they picking on me?
As it was; I immediately got out the ladder and my wood putty. I did not want it to think that I was advertising: Vacancies! I have to wait for the wood putty to dry and then I will sand and stain it on the next dry day.
Might you have a hidden bug infestation? Don't yell now, hear me out.
My next door neighbor has had spiders take up residence behind the siding (100+ year old German shiplap covered by ugly vinyl), these have been there for over 30 years. The woodpeckers come in and tear the crap out of the wooden window frame underneath where most of the spiders are (they deposit their droppings on the siding). The frame has to be replaced every couple years.
They used to hammer the original siding before it was vinylized.
The birds hammer my gutters near the one bedroom, drove my youngest daughter crazy (in all honesty it wasn't a very long drive). They used to hammer the TV antenna pole until I took it down. They switched to another pole a couple houses up the street.
Might you have a hidden bug infestation? Don't yell now, hear me out.
My next door neighbor has had spiders take up residence behind the siding (100+ year old German shiplap covered by ugly vinyl), these have been there for over 30 years. The woodpeckers come in and tear the crap out of the wooden window frame underneath where most of the spiders are (they deposit their droppings on the siding). The frame has to be replaced every couple years.
They used to hammer the original siding before it was vinylized.
The birds hammer my gutters near the one bedroom, drove my youngest daughter crazy (in all honesty it wasn't a very long drive). They used to hammer the TV antenna pole until I took it down. They switched to another pole a couple houses up the street.
The one wall faces the sun and that is the one they like the best. I could be that the sun destroyed the insecticide in the stain that I used? Or, maybe, they just like to sunbathe? Whatever the reason; I don't like it!
I recently cut down all the large White Pines right across our driveway from that wall. The little stinkers like to fly over to those pines when they were chased off the wall. So I was keeping my fingers crossed that, without a perch, they might find another wall - so much for that idea!
About ten years ago we had a flicker that like to tap out a love call on our aluminum rain gutter. They did that as the sun was just rising early in the morning and it sounded like they had a jackhammer on the roof! Fortunately that was a one year occurrence and it never came back or it found and even louder rain gutter!
I am just very disappointed with this particular Downy Woodpecker. I had high hopes for him that he would not hang around in the wrong neighborhood when he grew up! Now I am afraid that it will have to live with its personal choices and live in some hole in the wall! Maybe its little beak will get stuck in my wood putty!
Here is a picture of the wood putty I just applied to the holes. I used the spun fiberglass insulation to back fill the one larger hole that was in the middle of the bird's other exploratory holes. I will have to let that dry for a day before I sand and stain.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We have had a problem with them too, enlarging the 2" soffit vent holes, after punching through the plastic screens. I have covered all of them with metal louvers. My neighbor has a nice 1-1/2" hole in his siding like yours. In spring they annoy us by pecking at the stop sign on the corner, or our metal gas furnace chimney, so I keep an airsoft pellet gun to scare them away. They eventually come back, but at least I get some satisfaction from scaring them off.
We have had a problem with them too, enlarging the 2" soffit vent holes, after punching through the plastic screens. I have covered all of them with metal louvers. My neighbor has a nice 1-1/2" hole in his siding like yours. In spring they annoy us by pecking at the stop sign on the corner, or our metal gas furnace chimney, so I keep an airsoft pellet gun to scare them away. They eventually come back, but at least I get some satisfaction from scaring them off.
I had trouble two years ago with the little buggers going through my corner trim. I figured that I would stop that and I replaced my corner trim with cedar corner trim. I figured that the cedar we use to keep insects out our clothing so, no insects, no wood peckers. So much for that idea; I think they had a hole it in before the paint dried! But then they did leave me alone for a little time. Of course now they want to move in!
I got this stained today. It will look a little better after the stain dries. I just hope they leave me alone for a little while!
You might have to put some plastic owls on the roof near the eavestroughs to scare the woodpeckers away.
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I have two of them; if I can remember where I put them? Both had the eyes pecked out I presume by crows or hawks. They were really not very effective in our garden; the birds got use to them over time. We even tried to use them to stop a robin from beating its brains out on our one window. We caught the robin using the owl as a perch before it attacked!
We did stop the robin by hanging the deer netting in front of the window. The big hardware stores sell a 7'X100' roll of it for about $20. I guess I could hang 20' long sections off my roof? But, in the past, these birds have moved along - their transients since they are always looking for a better food supply. That would naturally be nature's way or otherwise they would consume all the bugs in one area.
In the meantime I will keep my tub of wood putty handy and I still have more stain! I am just glad they did not teach my pileated wood peckers any new tricks!
huh. I wonder what does make them pick and choose like that. We've had tons of woodpeckers for decades (live in Nat'l Forest) and they're on all the trees around us but have never touched the house that we are aware of.
Nothing like waking up to the jack hammering of a pileated outside the bedroom window just before the crack of dawn for weeks on end tho. lol.
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Maybe its little beak will get stuck in my wood putty!
I am just glad they did not teach my pileated wood peckers any new tricks!
