I can’t tell you how many times I am asked about problem woodpeckers. At least a couple times a month, someone will call or e-mail me a question about a woodpecker that is damaging the siding on their home. So I am going to try to address the issue in this column.
Up to a 6 species of woodpecker may find your home a good place to do what woodpeckers do—drill holes. Woodpeckers may choose your home for one of several reasons—drumming, nesting holes, roosting holes and foraging for food. In late winter and early spring, woodpeckers love tapping on aluminum siding, fascia boards, stucco exteriors, downspouts and chimneys for drumming.
This particular behavior involves rapid tapping of its bill to create a loud noise. Drumming is used to announce territory and to attract a mate. Repeated drumming can lead to small holes or depressions in wood siding and stucco but beyond that it’s a relatively harmless activity and your house can take it.
Another activity that takes place in spring is excavating nesting cavities. Woodpeckers often make several attempts at nesting holes. One of their choice nesting holes may be in your wood siding. When making a nesting cavity in your house, woodpeckers fist dig through the outer wood siding, and sheathing on the house (usually a fiberboard) before going directly into the insulation. It’s been speculated that woodpeckers excavate nesting cavities in homes to take advantage of the insulation the house provides and protection from predators such as raccoons that can’t scale the vertical walls of the house. Also, the wood siding is often a soft wood that is easily excavated. However a more plausible reason is, there may be no suitable dead trees in the area in which to excavate a cavity.
Roosting holes are cavities that the bird may use during winter. These cavities are not the same as the nesting cavity. Roosting holes are usually excavated in late summer and fall. These large holes may be surrounded by several smaller unfinished holes, or a cluster of tiny holes at the corners of the house, on the eaves or corner boards. Again the reasons for this may be a lack of suitable dead trees or at least dead branches in which the woodpeckers would normally excavate a roosting hole.
Foraging holes are created when a woodpecker is searching for food. All woodpeckers include insects as a large part of their diet. In particular many species of woodpeckers love the larva stage of most insects. The larva stage is the fat juicy worm like grub that spends its time buried within a tiny chamber in the wood.
There are a few siding types that are more susceptible to insect infestation and thus attract the woodpeckers to your house. Grooved plywood siding, sometimes called Type 111 is one example. It is made of sheets of plywood into which vertical grooves are cut. These grooves expose horizontal gaps in the core of the plywood allowing insects to crawl inside the gaps and lay eggs. Wooden shakes and shingles also have a ton of nooks and crannies that allow insects to hide and lay eggs.
Woodpeckers in search of insects hiding in your siding drill a line of shallow holes just enough to get its tongue inside and extract the hiding larva. The problem is, they usually drill dozens of holes to find the larva.
Now all that remains is to address the few things a homeowner can do to prevent or stop any woodpecker activity on their house. First and foremost, leave some dead branches or dead trees standing on your property. As long as the dead tree poses no threat of falling on your house or your neighbor’s house, leave it stand. Provide an easy food source such as suet. There is now a suet cake that doesn’t melt so it can be offered all summer.
Long strips of aluminum foil or reflective tape hung from areas where the damage occurs can scare away woodpeckers. Be sure the strips are long enough to blow in the wind. Windsocks can serve the same purpose. In fact, any moving object hung near the area can help. Lightweight nylon plastic netting can hang from the eaves. Be sure to leave at least 3 inches between the netting and the house. Aluminum flashing can be used to cover the damaged area deter future damage. A motion detector that sets off a loud noise or turns on a sprinkler can also work. This also works well for deer in your garden. Look for these products on the internet. Send me an e-mail for a link to many of these products. Until next time……