Can this bird be saved?

[Dennis S]

After a lot of hunting in my youth, I switched to shooting thing only with my camera. BUT....there is a certain woodpecker who insists on attacking our house and guesthouse.

When I scare him away, he flies to the highest branch of the nearest tree, apparently enjoying the delusion of safety. What might work to keep him away (besides my 22 caliber rifle)?

 

[Duff Man]

scare crow? Maybe an animated object powered by wind or electricity...?

On the other hand, a .22 round is only about $0.05

 

[njean]

After a lot of hunting in my youth, I switched to shooting thing only with my camera. BUT....there is a certain woodpecker who insists on attacking our house and guesthouse.

When I scare him away, he flies to the highest branch of the nearest tree, apparently enjoying the delusion of safety. What might work to keep him away (besides my 22 caliber rifle)?

A few years ago, we were having the same problem w/a woodpecker. He pecked holes in the stucco of our house! And since my husband has to sleep mornings because he works driving a truck to Albuq every night, the darn thing would drive him crazy when he was trying to sleep. Needless to say, the woodpecker disappeared one day & my husband never told me what happened to him but I kind of have an idea.......

 

[Duff Man]

you can get a subsonic 22 round that's probably less dangerous (and less loud) to shoot around your yard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_Long_Rifle#Subsonic

 

[Debbrn]

Years ago I had a woodpecker that would peck on the cutters in the morning to mark his territory. He also pecked on one corner of the house causing damage. I called an animal relocation business. They put a sticky substance where the wooderpecker was pecking and he never came back. My dad then filled up the hole and painted.

Debbie

 

[Dennis S]

you can get a subsonic 22 round that's probably less dangerous (and less loud) to shoot around your yard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_Long_Rifle#Subsonic

An interesting concept. We are pretty spread out up here, and are free to fire off any kind of ammunition needed to get the job done. But...it is a beautiful bird.

 

[Dennis S]

Years ago I had a woodpecker that would peck on the cutters in the morning to mark his territory. He also pecked on one corner of the house causing damage. I called an animal relocation business. They put a sticky substance where the wooderpecker was pecking and he never came back. My dad then filled up the hole and painted.

Debbie

Any idea what the substance was?

 

[kfay]

Dennis, quiet a few of my neighbors who have cedar shake houses have had this problem with woodpeckers. Most of them call a company here called critter control and they come and attach these mylar like ballons that are round and look like some kind of weird eyeball to the house where the woodpecker is pecking. It does scare them away. They ususally leave them up for about 6 weeks or so.

Kim

 

[Cooker]

Dennis... Check with your local bird store ... we have one here, Wild Birds Unlimited, they have a lot of repellent type products for just such problems.

 

[Cris N]

Might try hanging a large plastic owl or two.

 

[hensylee]

After a lot of hunting in my youth, I switched to shooting thing only with my camera. BUT....there is a certain woodpecker who insists on attacking our house and guesthouse.

When I scare him away, he flies to the highest branch of the nearest tree, apparently enjoying the delusion of safety. What might work to keep him away (besides my 22 caliber rifle)?

if it has special spots, have someone tack some aluminum foil around in spots and see what happens. can't hurt, might help.

woodpeckers are getting so scarce. we have one who came for years and this year he brought a mate; they had babies. nice to watch their progress, but we have plenty of trees for them. there must be something in the wood/material of your home that he likes.

 

[Dennis S]

It does amaze me. We have at least 300 trees on our property, and probably 10,000 within a 1/2 mile radius of the house-but this guy turns up his nose at Pondersosa pine, which for some reason is not nearly as attractive as Cedar.

I have been wondering if anyone has experience with something like a fake owl?

 

[Nancy]

I can tell you that our local hospital had a terrible problem with pigeons in their parking garage. They were roosting all over the rafters and especially liked the lighted entrance signs. People didn't like getting white washed as they entered the hospital, so the hospital hired a company to poison the pigeons. That was horrible, because they were dying right in front of people as they walked through the garage. And it got the animal rights people all up in arms.

So, they finally installed huge fake owls on top of the signs. End of the problem.

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking the dog early in the morning and saw, on the ground, a redheaded pileated woodpecker, face down with the wings spread out. I don't know what happened to that lovely bird. You hardly ever see bird carcasses on the ground. The bird remained there for several days until the homeowner finally cleaned it up.

I felt very sorry for dear Woodie Woodpecker. Beautiful bird. But they can cause some big damage to a house, I am sure. They are large birds.

 

[Freddie]

Found this for you Dennis........hope this helps

Repellents
Visual Repellents. The best way to keep pesky little woodpeckers from destroying valuable trees and wood sidings is to discourage them from pecking using a visual repellent. Plastic twirlers (windmills), pie pans or strips of brightly colored plastic or aluminum can effectively chase away these pests. You can also buy commercial visual bird repellents.
You can make your own visual repellents with common aluminum foil, which may be the most effective visual repellent.
1)Cut strips of aluminum 2 to 3 inches wide and 2 to 3 ft long.
2)Attach one end of several strips to a 6 to 8 inch string.
3)Nail small brads or nails 2 to 3 ft from the damage area. If you put them on a building, put them 6 to 10 ft apart.
4)Attach each string to the small brad so that the foil strips hang freely and move with the breeze.

 

[Nancy]

I just found this info.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/Pubs/natres/06516.html

 

[Freddie]

and this...........

Noise Repellents. Using loud noises like rock music or bird distress calls are also an effective way to discourage the birds. You can buy other noise producing devices like propane cannons, fuse ropes, bird banger rockets, screamers and electronic scare devices. Remember to use these techniques as soon as damage begins and continue them for at least 3 days. Understand that when the birds leave one site they simply move to another one. Just hope that the new site is on something other than the house.
Tactile Repellents. Sticky repellents like Roost-No-More®, Tanglefoot® and Bird Stop® can also be effective when smeared on the trunk and branches of high value trees and wood siding. These materials may discolor painted or stained wood and may run in warm weather, producing unsightly streaks. Thus, test them on a small area before you apply them to house siding.
In most cases you can get control quickly and effectively if you use an integrated approach: put up visual repellents, use a chemical repellent and harass the birds with noise.

 

[Bina]

Should I send my new neighbour down there to help you out?

 

[Dennis S]

No birds were harmed in the taking of this photo.

No birds were harmed in the taking of this photo.

Thanks as well to Nancy & Bina. I think the "hawk mobile" sounds like my favorite so far.

If that doesn't work-this guy might need a lawyer to assert his protected status.

Bina-I love having an owl around. Besides their beautiful appearance and acrobatic flying, it's kind of like having an aerial sheriff on the premises. We had our own owl for a few years, but the wind blew down his favorite old Ponderosa, and we haven't seen him since.

This is a picture of the down my nemesis left when I thwarted his most recent attack.

 

[hall]

We had one too, he was pecking on our deck. He sure was a pretty bird. 7 inches of snow stopped him! Don't think that will be an option for you and you can be grateful for that. Hope some of the things others have told you works. Good luck.

 

[Guest]

My sister's neighbor, (PA) had a woodpecker problem too. This was a deck post it liked.

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