Why is woodpecker pecking at my house

These birds like to eat suet, a product made from cow fat, particularly in the late fall, winter, and early spring when other food is scarce.

You can set up a bird feeder near where the woodpeckers are currently feeding to attract them to a different meal. After a day or so, begin gradually moving the feeder away from your home by a few feet each day. You can remove the feeder completely once summer arrives and the birds are trained to avoid your home. Deterrents are objects or products that keep pests away from your home, so consider investing in some woodpecker deterrents.

Various anecdotal sources recommend hanging or placing objects that reflect light, move, or make a sound. You might set up pinwheels or hang old CDs or wind chimes. You can also purchase a decoy owl to make it appear as though a predator is in the area. However, many homeowners report that these methods are only effective for a short time. The woodpeckers are smart enough to realize that there is no real threat and return after a few days.

You will need to place long strips of this tape dangling in front of areas of woodpecker damage. How can I tell if I have woodpeckers? The first indication of woodpecker activity is the distinct drumming noise they produce which almost sounds like a rapid, loud knocking against their wood surface of choice. Woodpeckers use their strong beaks to create small holes in search of insects and insect larvae, often destroying trees, decks, wood siding, synthetic stucco siding and eaves, gutters, chimney caps, and street lamps.

Although some of their pecking locations are not made of wood, woodpeckers also intentionally produce loud noises to attract mates. To learn more about woodpecker identification, click here. What kind of damage can woodpeckers do? The biggest concern with woodpecker activity is the potential for serious damage to your property and home.

Being primarily attracted to wood, they create holes and then widen them to create nests in the early spring or to search for food. Woodpeckers tap an estimated 8,, times per day, making them an unavoidable physically and audible problem. Photo credit: Friends of Santa Teresa Park.

If you suspect that you have woodpecker activity at your home, ask yourself the following questions:. If you answered yes to these questions, woodpeckers have most likely taken refuge by your home. There are several DIY and professional remedies that are conducive to repelling woodpeckers, much which can be found here. Unfortunately, Cooper Pest Solutions does not have programs in place for woodpecker removal or prevention.

Why are woodpeckers beneficial? Although woodpeckers can be difficult to coexist with, they can be a natural form of pest control at your home. Woodpeckers feed on acorns, fruit, nuts, and several species of insects. Woodpeckers are equipped with unique attributes that make them experts at insect consumption. Their heavy-duty beaks are used for destroying obstacles to reach the nested source, and their tongues can be up to four inches long, with a glue-like substance at the tip for catching insects.

More likely to perch high up on a dead tree is the long-necked, broad-winged and long-trailed, unmistakable Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus , which is our largest woodpecker and is usually about Its call is loud, deep, resonant, often given in flight with higher-pitched calls on landing.

Its drum is slow, powerful, accelerating and trailing off at the end; or short, up to three seconds long only one or two per minute. Other species that are common in Massachusetts are the Northern Flicker Colaptes chrysoides , and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius. Woodpeckers have strong bills that can chisel, peck and pull away bark in search of insect prey. They also excavate cavities in trees for nesting or as winter roosts.

Pecking and drumming communicates with other woodpeckers. Fortunately, their reinforced, shock-absorbing skulls absorb the shock from the repeated blows. They have long tongues that are barbed and coated with bristles for spearing and extracting wood-boring insects or licking tree sap.

Occasionally, a woodpecker will drum on our houses or metal structures. As loud and, frankly, annoying as the noise may be, it is even more so when your home is on the receiving end of all that pecking. What makes woodpeckers peck at your house, anyway, and when should you call for professional bird removal Madison? These three main reasons can shed light on woodpecker behavior and what homeowners can do about it without hurting themselves or the birds.

Once you realize why woodpeckers are such rowdy neighbors, you may not begrudge their ways. The first reason is to be expected: they are trying to attract a potential mate. Luckily, any loud noise they make for show is less likely to cause significant damage to your home. A woodpecker can create a large hole in siding for a nest, and once it settles in, it may stay there until the fledglings are ready to go on their own.

Under the North American Migratory Bird Act, woodpeckers are a protected species, and it is illegal to disturb their nests. The third reason is also a big cause for concern.