AboutJonathan Wright Expertise I can answer questions about wild mammals, as well as other wild animals. I can also answer questions on extinct animals and zoos.
PLEASE DON'T SEND ME ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT PETS. IF YOU ARE REALLY WORRIED, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A VETERINARIAN. PLEASE DO NOT ASSUME THAT UNPAID PEOPLE ON ALLEXPERTS ARE AVAILABLE 24 HOURS A DAY AND WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH ADVICE THE MOMENT YOUR ANIMAL GETS ILL. Find out how to look after a pet before you get it. It is unfair to keep an animal in inappropriate conditions and give it the wrong food. If you can't keep an animal in good conditions, please don't bring it into your home. I'm not a vet and I don't have any expertise in animal medicine and care. I don't agree with people taking animals out of the wild and then expecting other people to give free advice on how to look after them. It is cruel to take animals away from their parents, who are able to look after the babies and may look for them, while putting their other babies at risk. You may need a licence to look after some animals. You may be breaking the law by keeping wild animals; please check with a local wildlife organisation.
IF YOU FIND AN INJURED ANIMAL, PLEASE CONTACT A WILDLIFE VETERINARIAN OR CHARITY AND LET TRAINED STAFF LOOK AFTER THE ANIMAL. DO NOT TRY TO LOOK AFTER AN INJURED ANIMAL IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
Please do not remove eggs from nests. The mother birds will know the right temperature for the eggs and will not sit on them if the temperature is warm enough for them to develop naturally. It is illegal to remove eggs of some species and, unless you have an incubator or a broody hen, the egg may not develop. If you are allowed to touch the eggs, you can candle them (check details on websites) to see if the eggs are fertile. If the eggs are not fertile, they will not hatch.
I do not agree with fights between different animals. Please do not ask me questions about them.
Experience I have a zoology degree and have been interested in animals since I was two years old. I am a zoo volunteer at London Zoo. I have appeared on a BBC Radio Quiz, 'Wildbrain'.
Organizations World Wide Fund for Nature. Zoological Society of London. London Bat Group.
Publications Newsletters of London Zoo volunteers and the London Bat Group
Education/Credentials BSC degree in Zoology. 'A' levels in Zoology and Chemistry. 'O' Level in Biology.
Question For the past week there has been this female woodpecker pecking loudly at four of my apartment windows and along my bedroom wall. Pest will not go away. Why is she doing this and how can i get the pest to go away without hurting her?
These sites include a range of information about woodpecker damage, as well as illustrations of various devices you may like to make to deter woodpeckers. I would advise you to check any wooden surfaces to ensure that the woodpeckers are not damaging your home. The sites go into details about how to remedy woodpecker damage, which may be useful. As your question only refers to the noise problem, I shall only refer to remedies to deter woodpeckers.
Woodpeckers may visit gardens because their usual wooded habitat has been disrupted. Woodpecker damage is most likely to occur in spring and fall, but spring is the biggest damage season. Natural wood (especially cedar) siding, large size, and better sound production may make houses seem like “super trees.”
Woodpeckers drum on various objects, including trees, branches, guttering and drain sprouts, wood siding, wood-covered fireplace chimneys, vent caps, dead trees or large limbs, metal flashing, street lights, TV antennae, silos or anything else that resonates loudly. Woodpeckers drum for several reasons. Male woodpeckers "drum" or hammer on a log between late winter and early summer to attract a mate. Drumming also acts as a territorial signal to tell other birds to stay off his turf. Woodpeckers believe that louder is better. Usually a hollow tree limb works fine for making a nice loud sound. A metal gutter or the siding on your house works even better. Some drumming may be used to locate food. The birds tap on a tree and then listen for any movement of insects inside. This saves the bird the effort of drilling into countless trees only to find them empty. They know to drill only when they hear some sort of sound inside. In a similar manner, they will tap on potential nest trees to find the one most suitable.
Woodpeckers make two different pecking noises: The first type is a loud, rapid drumming noise on resonant surfaces. This occurs in bursts of 1-2 seconds and is used to announce their presence in a territory or to attract a mate during the breeding season. This type of behaviour is used to signal or communicate like song in other birds. This type of behaviour usually subsides once the breeding season passes. The second type is light, irregular pecking. This often indicates that the woodpeckers are pecking for food or excavating a nest hole.
Drumming causes little damage other than possible paint removal on metal surfaces. The noise can often be heard throughout the house and becomes quite annoying, especially in the early morning hours when occupants are still asleep. Drumming may occur a number of times during a single day, and the activity may go on for some days or months. Wood surfaces may be disfigured from drumming but the damage may not be severe.
Sometimes woodpeckers accidentally fly into reflective windows, not recognizing the reflective surface. Once there, and if still alive, it is their nature to peck. These reflective surfaces often stimulate a territorial or breeding behavior response. The bird does not realize the "other woodpecker" is merely its own reflection. Once on the building, they will peck. All too often, they will return repeatedly to peck the wood surface. This may explain why your female woodpecker returns so often – she may think that the reflection in the window is a competitor.
Woodpeckers may use a building for feeding, drumming and nesting. Nesting holes may be hammered completely through siding and insulation. Often a number of such cavities will be started until the bird finds a suitable situation for the nest site. This doesn't seem to be happening in your home, but please check for any holes.
As the woodpecker is becoming a pest, you should take action as soon as possible. If the woodpecker is allowed to establish its behaviour pattern, it will become much more difficult to stop. Study the place where the drumming is taking place. In order to drum, the woodpecker must be able to hold onto the structure. If you remove the ledges, cracks and crevices that might serve as toeholds, this may solve the problem.
You may be able to deaden or dull the sound with padding. You may fill the resonant area with caulk or modify the surface by covering it with fabric or foam. Place insulation or other material behind the siding, where the drumming is occurring. If necessary, remove a plank or two to insert material and then replace. You can also provide an alternative drumming site by nailing two boards together at just one end and hanging on a secure surface.
If the pecking activity is not restricted to one site or occurs throughout the year, the birds are likely drilling for food. They are attracted to insect infested wood, so you must control the insects. Consult with a licensed pest control operator on how to remove the pests and make necessary repairs.
If the woodpecker drills a cavity for nesting, roosting or caching food, repair the openings, using caulking, wood filler, wooden plugs, steel wool or wire screen before sealing them. Please wait until after the young birds have fledged the nest. This doesn't seem to be happening in the case of your woodpecker.
Using visual repellents may also chase the birds away. These include aluminium foil strips, hand-held windmills, falcon silhouette mobiles and magnifying mirrors.
Aluminum foil strips: Cut several strips 5-7.5 cm across and 60-90 cm long. Attach a 15 cm string to one end of each strip. Partially hammer in small brads or nails 60-90 cm above the drumming site; space these 1.8-3 m apart. Attach each string to a nail in so that strips hang freely and move with every breeze. It is the motion, which frightens birds away. You can also stretch reflective mylar tape strips across a damaged area, or attach them to the eaves and let them hang down.
Hand-held windmills: Use windmills with reflective vanes. Attach at the drumming site with brads, nails, pins, small staples or tape. Make sure that the revolving vanes move freely. If necessary, put a backing behind the stick to free the pivot.
Falcon silhouettes: Most birds fear flacons. Draw an outline of a flying falcon and colour it black. Glue a 6 mm backing to the cutout. Attach a 30 cm monofilament line to a 45 cm long 6 mm dowel rod and attach a fishing swivel to the beak of the cutout. Tie one end of the line to the swivel and the other end of the line to the end of the dowel rod. Attach the opposite end of the dowel rod to a 12 mm pine block 12.5 cm square by drilling a hole into the block. Attach the block to the siding above the drumming site. Move the location of the cutout daily so that the drumming woodpecker does not become used to the cutout and no longer see it as a threat. Two cutouts may give better results. You can also mount models or silhouettes of cats, snakes, owls, or hawks at the problem sites. Playing of recorded calls of birds of prey may augment the threat. Playing vocalizations of woodpecker distress calls, obtainable from sporting goods stores, for short, irregular intervals on continuous loop tapes may be successful successfully.
You can also suspend light pie plates and metal can lids on a string and pass this through the eyelets, which are screwed into the house near the damaged or drumming site. One end of the string can be near a convenient window or door where the line can be jerked whenever the bird appears.
Rubber balloons with round owl-like eyes attached or painted on the surfaces and hung in the drumming area have been used successfully. Stationary plastic hawks, owls and fake snakes are generally ineffective as repellents. Woodpeckers quickly figure out that the thing isn't much of a threat if it doesn't move.
Magnifying mirrors: On each side of the house where damage or drumming occurs, place one or two shaving mirrors attached flat to the wood with the enlarging lens outward will frighten woodpeckers. When the woodpecker sees itself, it may be scared off by the image of a large woodpecker. Contrarily, woodpeckers are not discouraged from damaging wooden window frames or casings very near window panes where their reflection would frequently by seen. Some people believe that when woodpeckers see their reflection, this may intensify the damage, due to defensive territorial behaviour.
Sound can be used to harass offending woodpeckers. Noise, such as from banging pans, garbage lids or boards, handclapping or toy cap pistols will chase birds away. You can place a loud-playing radio in a window to scare the birds away. If this is repeated when the bird returns, the bird may leave for good. High-frequency sound is above the normal audible hearing range of humans but, unfortunately, above the range of most birds too.
You can also chase the bird away when it starts drumming.
You may discourage the bird with water from a garden or high-pressure water hose.
High frequency sound producing devices rarely provide advertised results. The sound is above the range for most birds.
To stop pecking on windows and moulding, pull down the shades or blinds or use cardboard to block the bird's reflection. Eliminate foods that attract woodpeckers to or near buildings, such as insects behind or between shingles or suet at bird feeders. Dead trees may also harbor insects that attract woodpeckers. Cutting such trees down, however, may deprive woodpeckers of drumming, nesting or food storage sites and force them to use a building instead. Deciding what to do depends upon the individual problem. Fall damage often results from woodpeckers searching for food in or under the siding, usually for insects or insect larvae. Certain types of ply-
You can use sticky, paste-type repellents around a damaged area. Apply them on masking tape to avoid staining. Sticky products such as Tanglefoot and Roost-No-More can be applied to trees when drilling is especially damaging. Birds do not like the sticky footing. The tacky repellents can be applied to a thin piece of pressed board, ridged clear plastic sheets, or other suitable material, which is then fastened to the area where damage is occurring.
Screen areas of concentrated damage with poultry wire, hardware cloth, plastic sheets or netting stapled near the rain gutter and angled down to the house to close off an area to woodpeckers. Protect areas that are damaged repeatedly with metal sheeting. You can also wrap or cover metallic or wooded surfaces, used for drumming, with cloth or foam. You can place 18 mm lightweight plastic netting over wood siding beneath the eaves, to prevent damage from woodpeckers. Leave at least 75 mm of space between the netting and the damaged building so that birds cannot cause damage through the mesh. You can also attach netting to overhanging eaves. Angle it back to the siding below the damaged area and secure it taut, but not overly tight. Secure the netting so that the birds cannot get behind it. If installed properly, the netting is barely visible from a distance and will offer a long-term solution to a damage problem. If the birds move to another area of the dwelling, that too will need to be netted.
Placing metal sheathing or plastic sheeting over the pecked areas on building siding can offer permanent protection from continued damage. Install metal barriers as soon as damage begins. Occasionally the birds will move over to an unprotected spot and the protected must be expanded. It is easy to cover damaged sites with aluminium flashing. Woodpeckers may peck through aluminium if they can secure a foothold from which to work. Metal sheathing can be disguised with paint or simulated wood grain to match the siding.
You can use 6 mm hardware to cover pecked areas and prevent further damage. It can be spray painted to match the colour of the building. The wire can be attached directly to the wood surface being damaged, or raised outward from the wood siding with 25 mm wood spacers. Once woodpeckers have been discouraged, frightened away, or killed, the damaged spots on houses should be repaired by filling in the holes with wood patch or covering them to prevent woodpeckers from being attracted to the damaged site at some future time.
You can repel woodpeckers by treating areas with objectionably tasting chemicals, such as Ro-pel and Thiram. Other chemical repellents include naphthalene (mothballs) in mesh bags, pinned to the siding, but these have limited value. You may also spread bitter apple in holes and surrounding wood. They will avoid the area in future because of the bad taste. Odorous and somewhat toxic wood treatments, such as creosote and pentachlorophenol, are frequently used to treat utility poles and fence posts, but do not resolve the woodpecker problem.
You can put out beef suet in a mesh bag or a special holder, particularly in winter. This may attract woodpeckers and may entice them away from the building or damaged area. Suet, when offered in the warmer seasons of the year, may be potentially harmful to woodpeckers. It may make the bird dependent on handouts and the suet may get onto the head feathers, leading to matting and eventual loss of feathers. Removing a bird feeder may cause the bird to leave, while keeping a feeder full of suet may encourage the birds not to look at your siding for food.
You can reduce house damage by allowing large dead limbs to remain on trees, providing a place for the woodpeckers to nest and find food. Alternatively, cutting down dead and decaying trees deprives these birds of nesting, drumming and food sites, and may force them to take a look at your house. If you install nest boxes in trees, woodpeckers may have an alternative site for nesting. Building an alternate drumming site may reduce the amount of damage to the house. Fasten a cedar board securely to the pecking site and attach a second board loosely to one end of the first board. These two boards should overlap to form a flexible resonating surface. A simple hollow box also may serve as an effective substitute. Utility poles can be covered with hardware cloth to prevent woodpecker damage.
Woodpeckers are protected in various countries and are subject to both state and federal laws in the USA. You need a federally issued depredation permit before you may take, possess or transport a woodpecker for depredation control purposes. You do not need a permit to scare or herd bird pests, unless they are threatened or endangered species. You can call a professional pest control company and see if they have any experience with trapping woodpeckers. You might be able to trap them and take them far away, but they may come back. If it gets bad enough you may be forced to contact a wildlife services office to request a depredation permit. They will ask you to fill out forms explaining the problem and after a month or so of bureaucratic deliberation may give you the permit. As you do not wish to harm the woodpecker, this last suggestion would be an extreme measure.
This has been a complicated question to answer. Luckilly, the websites tended to agree with one another and i have tried to avoid repeating information. I have given you a range of ideas to consider. It doesn't seem that the woodpecker is causing any structural damage and may just be attacking the window becausew of its reflection. The easiest way to prevent it drumming at the window may be to cover your windows, although this will also prevent you from looking at other things, never mind the fact that your lighting bills may increase.
I hope that these answers help and that you and the woodpecker may live in peace.
