woodpecker damage

[bpuharic]

any way to stop the damn woodpeckers from chewing up the wood siding? doesnt seem to be any bug damage....

[IGot2P]

Pellet gun works for me.

[Sjouke Burry]

A sensitive microphone on the wood, amplify the tapping sound, trigger a relay with that, and blast high frequency sound back at the critters. Or: Buy a shotgun, and start practising.

[Paul Franklin]

I've had good luck with tacking up several lengths of orange warning barrier tape (like crime scene tape but bright orange). You take several lengths a foot or two long and staple one end up high so the other ends flap around in the wind. One bundle per house side seems to be enough.

Looks ugly, but it has worked for me. I live in the woods and have cedar siding, and before I started doing this, I would have 4 or 5 holes a year to fix.

Paul F.

[hrhofmann]

Great idea, what's best place to get the tape, I don't have any crime scenes around here that I know of.

[aemeijers]

My sympathies. My wood faux chimney stack has half a dozen little plywood patches screwed to the cheap crap OSB t1-11 siding, twelve feet off the ground (so he could grab onto the Z-flashing for support, I guess.) The siding feels like it is rotted when they do a test peck, so they think it is a good place to make a home. The sheet metal on the chimney cap right above makes it a short walk to do their macho mating call.

No fresh holes this year, though. This spring, I kept hearing one pecking on the sheet metal while I was sitting here at the computer, so I would run out and holler at it, and chase it from tree to tree, all the way over to neighbor's yard. Did that 3-4 times before it finally got the hint. Sumbitch probably pecked a home in neighbor's shed, but is still close enough that other woodpeckers consider the territory taken.

Whole damn house needs resided, but they want an arm and left nut to redo it in any sort of real wood vertical siding. (Like real T1-11- no more OSB for me.) People keep telling me to just cut my losses and cover it in vinyl, but then it would look just like every other ugly house in the subdivision. And housing prices are so low around here right now, even vinyl probably would be a money-loser at resale time.

But to answer your question- no way to stop them that I know of, other than reside with Hardie or something. (Got an estimate for that, for giggles. Came to about 1/5 of what I paid for the house. Uh, NO.)

[Paul Franklin]

Well, you could create a crime scene :-)

Round here the borg carries it in various colors, I guess for taping off construction areas. I read somewhere that the color does matter and that orange is most effective for woodpeckers.

As an aside, whenever I dig a trench for power or whatever, I bury a length of the tape in the trench a ways above whatever I've buried to act as an early warning to anyone digging in the area later.

[aemeijers]

How long does the Borg stuff last underground? It is rather thin. I know gas companies do what you are talking about, but the tape I have seen them use is quite thick, almost like landscape fabric.

I wonder how long galvanized swingset chain would last underground, as a warning marker? Does anyone sell precast paver stones with warnings molded into the top? Like 'gas line below' or 'septic below', with words plus an arrow to indicate direction? Cast them with a slug of plastic-coated iron in the middle to make them easy to find if the sod eats them, like it is prone to do.

[hrhofmann]

Great idea about the "warning" tape, I could have used it a few months ago when Comcast couldn't bury their cable where I had marked on the ground and dug a different route from the house to the pole. Hopefully I won't be digging in the general area.

[hrhofmann]

e:

They make imitation cedar shingles in vinyl now, I have seen a bunch of adds on tv over the past 4 months or so.

[Marina]

"Bob F" wrote in news:i7rdai$gmj$ [e-mail]:

I had a bird that was pecking at the steel swingset. It also was pecking at the steel cap on the chimney.

[bpuharic]

my wife is a criminal defense attorney. i can have some of her clients give you a ring if interested. i'm sure they'll work cheap!

[chaniarts]

that's illegal in a lot (most? all?) places in the US. they're federally protected.

[hrhofmann]

I covered my chimney cap with auto undercoating spray junk/foam to stop a woodpecker from sounding off. It has worked for more than 10 years now. Can't use it on my cedar shingle siding though because it looks pretty crappy.

[salty]

There are bugs under that wood. Woodpeckers are not otherwise interested in pecking wood. If there is metal siding and they thing there are bugs behind it, they will peck that, too. They are not all that smart, but they know how to find bugs.

[Shaun Eli]

Not so sure it's insects. Someone told me a while back, and he seemed to know what he was talking about, that if they're pecking at siding instead of trees it's for the noise-- mating, or scaring off competitors, something like that. For insects they'll peck on trees.

If it's pecking on the same area, something that smells might drive it away.

[salty]

It is insects.

[Paul Franklin]

Downy woodpeckers will make a 1-1 1/2 inch hole and then nest behind the siding. I have foam behind my siding and they love the nice comfy nesting area. I've pulled amazing collections of dryer lint, grass, paper, etc. out of the holes before patching them. And I've seen the woodpeckers in them, so I know it's not mice or other vermin.

Paul F.

[Oren]

I tried to explain this to my hound dog. So far he has remained silent in the matter.

Hound Dog 1 Woodpecker 0

[salty]

You have moisture and bugs behind that siding in addition to the foam.