quote:

Originally posted by Dexter:

quote:

Originally posted by countrygun:

quote:

Originally posted by Gun_Enthusiast:

quote:

Originally posted by florida boy:
I had one that used to tap on my metal fireplace chimney cap. He'd come around a couple of times a week.The sound would come down the chimney and out thru the fireplace. One day, after about a month he was gone. Guess he finally realized wood was much better and easier on the beak.

We get 'em every spring. I figure it's just a mating thing. Luckily, it seems our woodpeckers leave houses alone, and only go after metal.

I can't help myself:

Metalpeckers?

the mind boggles.

You bet, metalpeckers.
We have flickers and woodpeckers. Flickers are worse, smarter and more destructive. Flickers have learned to peck out the spot welds on sheet metal eave vents and gable vents around here. Once the screen is gone, they have access to the attic for a REAL peckin' party.

I am just north of you in the Free State. We got those things by the plane load here.

Well, shooting them is a non-starter. As mentioned above, they are all pretty much a federally protected species.

I guess I'll be sucking it up and calling my siding guy. Shit.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:
I could be wrong here, but i thought that some kinds of woodpeckers were considered endangered species and were not allowed to be killed.


Kevin

YOu ever hear of the three S's?


shoot
shovel
shut-up

does wonders for bobcats too.

God, so many people screw this up

Shovel comes first. Always shovel. You don't want to be digging holes all day

We've crossed this road before...as this isn't the first woodpecker thread to hit the forum. Most of us also know that SC is a huge bird lover....go figure his opinion would be what it is. And no, SC, I'm not questioning that at all.

However, rules aside, woodpeckers can and do cause a tremendous amount of damage to a home. Imho, there's a huge difference between hunting woodpeckers and trying to remove a woodpecker that decides it wants to mate on your property. The law has a different view of this but you may want to research it further with your local wildlife officials.

The law is the law but reality is that you will likely have a long-term problem. I had a natural cedar home in KCMO and had numerous issues with woodpeckers. They are usually searching for bugs in the wood and often use gutters/flashing to attract mates. Pecking at the crack of dawn, destroying several areas of our siding and generally just becoming annoying pests was the status quo. This is much more troublesome than a barking dog...it's more like a dog that attacked your kid.

I tried a variety of things w/o much improvement. Some say spraying the damage with pepper / hot mixtures will get on the bird's beak and cause it to go somewhere else. Scarecrow/wind socks also have been suggested and tried. I even used fox urine to get rid of them because it's (supposedly) a natural predator...and putting the scent around your property is suppose to ward them off. None worked for me...but it might work for you.

It's a really tough situation. Woodpeckers caused thousands of dollars of damage to my property. The worst was the woodpeckers would make a nest in the walls then squirrels would move in and cause more damage.

Hopefully you can get lucky with some of the deterrent techniques I mentioned. And don't think that just changing out your siding will necessarily rid you of them. I had a buddy with some concrete-board type of siding that had problems too!

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
So next time I shoot a barking dog, y'all are gonna rally behind me right?

I would, and I love my dogs, and wild birds for that matter.

I guess some woodpeckers can be real peckerwoods. I like the peanut butter idea.

I thought at first some one had taken a shot gun to our cabin. I build a new cabin next to the old one. Guess what, holes in it. My neighbor, they pecked holes in the roof. We apparently have two types up here. I will go with DLP(defense of life or property state law).

You said wood - pecker

nothin like auto matic machine gun fire

Sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do


I had some experiences with the state bird in the past. He was mistaken for a pheasant that thought he was a woodpecker.

I've never approved of the wanton killing of birds, but I do not understand how one must stand idly by and allow anything to destroy his home. Yes, the penalties are severe due to a treaty. I feel it is incumbent on the government to provide a solution, or allow an exception for any animal that attacks property, if it's going to be illegal to protect your property yourself.

In Utah, I can legally shoot someone who is about to set fire to my house, but I cannot shoot a bird that's whacking holes in it? It makes no sense. Fortunately, we have no woodpeckers here in UT. We had plenty in VA where I grew up, and I do love the sound of them in the morning out in the woods, and they never caused problems for us. Bumble bees bored the crap out structures, but not woodpeckers.

Do woodpeckers respond to artificial decoys? While training a pet hawk would work, its certainly not practical. How about a solar powered owl, that hoots and moves it's head about? Or a rubber snake positioned in the area where the birds are doing damage? I'm sure you'd have to move your decoys about frequently, but that's less trouble than hunting woodpeckers every day. Eventually I'd think the offending birds would find somewhere else to bother.

If we locked up every person who ever shot a bird, there would be huge prisons full of 8 year olds who got BB guns for Christmas.

The law is what it is. Disagree with it, find an alternative solution, try to change it, etc. However, saying that you've broken the law or advocating breaking the law on the internet is one of the dumber things a person can do.

There are thousands of laws I disagree with and would like to change, don't mean I'm going to run around breaking them and then tell everyone about it.

My friends mom had the same problem. They had actually made holes through the siding and were starting to nest in there. We hung strips of shiney/foiled plastic tape where they were trying to nest so it fluttered in the breeze. It kept them away. Later in the summer we took it down and they haven't come back. It was cheap and easy. Might give it a try.

I've heard that hot peppers don't work on birds. that they can't 'taste' it. i.e. you put it in your bird feed to keep squirrels out. *shrug*

Shawn

I have seen a house around here that was getting tore up by woodpeckers. Not sure all what methods they tried but the one that seemed to work was draping a net from the roof to the ground. Now this was only one part of the house that had the wood siding and it was not visible from the road so YMMV.

I sometimes put suet out with my bird feeder and the woodpeckers like it. Maybe you can bait them away from your house.

Smear some of the cheap store brand peanut butter on a couple of trees away from the house. I have quite a few ladder back woodpeckers through the year and they don`t bother my house at all.

If I might be so bold I'd like to offer a suggestion that has saved my house from absolute destruction; my 26-year old natural cedar sided house.

In Colorado we have a wood pecker called the Red Shafted Flicker (IIRC). For years I tried to scare them off with plastic owls with moving heads, strips of aluminum foil. Aluminum pie tins, chili pepper, and countless other attempts. I'd go up, repair the hole, and with a day or so they were right back at the same location.

About 3 years ago, in a moment of desperation, I talked to the experts at a bird preserve. They suggested I look up on the web for the plans for a bird house....A BIRD HOUSE!!! I did not want them to take up residence on my house!!!

But I weakened and in about an hour with about $10 worth of cedar, I had built a box. (The dimensions of the box, the size and placement of the entry hole are pretty critical according to the web sites I visited).

About an hour after I hung the box over one of their favor hole locations, they took up housekeeping. The raised 2 chicks in that box.

The next year they didn't return, but neither did the destruction. This year they set up a nest but never produced any chicks, and left kind of early.

Bottom Line: The secret is that once they nest, the did No more destruction to any more of the house and they are very territorial and will keep other Flickers away.

Look up "woodpecker houses" on Google.

Good luck.

quote:

Sometimes nothing is the thing to say.

Right!

So why would the bird lovers open a thread titled "The woodpeckers must die"?

quote:

Originally posted by Sigforall:

quote:

Sometimes nothing is the thing to say.

Right!

So why would the bird lovers open a thread titled "The woodpeckers must die"?

Why would someone openly advocate breaking federal, state and local laws that carry penalties of large fines and jail time on a public forum under the disguise of "advice?"

Talk about some shitty advice....


Kevin

Just another kill a squirrel thread but this time its a bird.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigforall:
Just another kill a squirel thread but this time its a bird.

Very similar, but in a lot of places, squirrels are not protected species.