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As seen in our past video on creating balm of Gilead with Cottonwood buds, we have cottonwoods in abundance on our little acreage. Cottonwoods are prime real estate for cavity nesting animals and that is what woodpeckers are. In fact, woodpeckers are called “primary cavity nesters”, meaning they create their own cavities in trees by excavating them with their beaks. When you have to build your home by literally carving it out of wood with your face, softer wood like that of the cottonwood makes your job a whole lot easier. On our property we have identified 5 woodpecker species taking advantage of these trees including Downy, Hairy, and Pileated Woodpeckers as well as Northern Flickers and Red-breasted Sapsuckers.

Woodpeckers are a vital part of a forested ecosystem, and many other species rely on their cavity building skills. Woodpeckers excavate a new nest cavity every year, and the old nest sites may then become home to secondary cavity nesters like bluebirds, Wood Ducks, Screech Owls, and even some mammals like Northern Flying Squirrels.

In addition to pecking to excavate nest cavities, woodpeckers also drum, which is just very rapid pecking, to defend territory and advertise for mates. They also peck to excavate insects and insect larva from dead wood, and sapsuckers, as their name implies, peck live trees to create small holes, knows as wells, from which they can drink sap. Woodpeckers feast on carpenter ants, wood boring beetle larvae, and termites, so they are great animals to have around if you wish to reduce the number of these wood-eating insects near your home.

Woodpeckers have all kinds of interesting anatomical adaptations to withstand the physical force of literally repeatedly banging their head against a wall, and they also have specialized, super elongated tongues that help them extract insects from holes or sap from wells. They are extremely interesting birds and we love having them around, but sometimes their pecking behavior can get them into trouble with humans living in their territories.

To a woodpecker, there is no real difference between a tree and the wood siding on a house. They simply have no behavioral frame of reference for human construction. There is no distinction in their mind between tree and house. The bird can only see the wood, and it should be no surprise to us when the animals we call “woodpeckers” peck on it.

When a woodpecker is pecking on your house, it’s hard not to take it personally, but it’s really not. Again, the bird just thinks it’s pecking on a big old tree. If a woodpecker is pecking on your house the first thing you should do is determine what kind of pecking it is doing. Is it making large holes like it is trying to create a nest cavity? Is it making a lot of smaller holes like it is feeding on insects in your wood siding? Is it rapidly pecking and making a heck of a lot of noise? The answer to these questions will help you decide how best to discourage the birds from continuing to peck your house.

If the woodpeckers appear to be exhibiting feeding behavior, they might have just done you a favor by alerting you to a carpenter ant or termite infestation in your wood siding. Check around the holes the birds have created for any sign of insect activity and possibly call in an outside expert  to take care of any insect problems that are found.

If a woodpecker is trying to build a nest cavity in a house it will usually peck a larger hole thorough the wood siding and stop when it hits the underlayment because it doesn’t fit the bird’s model for what should be under the bark of a tree. Unfortunately, the bird doesn’t have the ability to figure out that this means the house is not a tree. Usually, they just move over a bit and start pecking on the wood siding again until once again they reach the underlayment, get confused, and start the cycle over once again. It would be comical if it wasn’t so expensive to fix. The best thing to do to break this cycle is to temporarily tack a sheet, tarp, or other non-tree like material to the side of your house. If it no longer looks and feels like a tree, the woodpecker will not treat it as such and they will decide to build their nest elsewhere. Instead of or in addition to covering the area you can also hang reflective ribbon, pie tins, or even old CDs from your gutters so that they catch the sun and blow in the wind in front of the areas the birds seem to be focused on. It should be enough to make the area feel unsafe to them.

Probably the most common complaint about woodpeckers though is that they will drum on whatever surface they can find that will make the loudest noise. To woodpeckers, the louder you are the more formidable you sound, and wood isn’t necessarily the best surface for getting truly loud sound. Some birds get creative and peck things other than wood. Metal chimneys and chimney caps, gutters, or pieces of flashing are especially good at amplifying the birds’ drumming, much to the alarm of people living and trying to sleep in the houses these things are attached to. A woodpecker drumming on a chimney sounds like a piece of heavy machinery working at high RPMs. It can reach truly ear splitting levels. Fortunately, the way to prevent drumming is simple. Just pad the area in which the woodpecker is drumming to dampen the sound. For chimneys and chimney caps you will want to ensure that any padding you place is fireproof to avoid creating a hazardous situation. Aluminum foil is an inexpensive option for creating padding in these areas as several layers with some bunched up foil in between them effectively mutes drumming noise.

One other thought- if woodpeckers do appear to be trying to excavate a nest cavity on your house, consider offering them an alternative nest site. Woodpecker nest boxes are available online as are plans to build nest boxes for a number of different species. You fill these nest boxes with wood shavings so that the birds can excavate them as they would a dead tree. If the the woodpeckers have a readily available alternative they may quickly lose interest in using your house as a nest site.

Hopefully this information will be helpful if you find yourself in conflict with woodpeckers on your property. If you do have a conflict and address it using these methods, we would love to hear about your experience and what did or did not work for you. Please feel free to drop us a line at neighbor@wildhomesteadliving.com to share your story.