Crazy Woodpecker

[oldmopar]

Early this afternoon I hear what sounds like someone hammering on the side of my house so I go outside to see what is going on and there is a wood pecker pecking on the house. I have cedar shingles and he made 4 good size holes in one. There are plenty of trees he could use but this dumb bird pick my siding to drill in.

[JIPJOBXX]

I had that happening last winter but the woodpecker was trying to drill a hole in my sheet metal stove stack. Kind of weird because I could hear the bird pecking on the stack but when I went outside it had flown away. After a couple of days of this going on I finally saw that bird fly oft and finally figured out what was going on.

[JerseyHarold]

Haven't had much trouble with woodpeckers but we have a rooster living nearby that cock-a-doodle-doos all hours of the day.

[bigred48]

we had the exact same problem, we had to replace the pieces of wood on the corner of the house, we found out that you put mylar strips on a string and hang them on the house the bird won't be coming back, but the house looks very ugly, the other solution is the bb gun, as long as your a good shot it works every time.

[Normspeed]

This will do it.

[BobT-47P15]

We have a metal pecker......he pecks on the vent pipe to the furnace.

[oldmopar]

I tried hanging a metal owl thing in a tree that they sell for gardens will see if that works before.

[eric wissing]

The woodpecker is just trying to impress some female. I am sure some of us here have revved our engines without the thought of others! Eric

[Jim Saraceno]

Eric is right. Woodpeckers, especially flickers peck on metal to stake out their territory. I had one staking out his territory at 5 am on my chimney cap. I put some duct seal on the cap to deaden the sound so he moved on to the transformer on the pole our front.

When they peck on wood though, they are usually looking for food. You better check for termites or other critters in the shingles.

[oldmopar]

Everything is in good condition with the shingles I just finished staining them maybe the stain attracted him ?

[Andydodge]

We have plenty of termites downunder, little mongrels have had a feed in my garage, so I'll take a few woodpeckers if you want to send them down here........lol.....andyd

[55 Fargo]

Early this afternoon I hear what sounds like someone hammering on the side of my house so I go outside to see what is going on and there is a wood pecker pecking on the house. I have cedar shingles and he made 4 good size holes in one. There are plenty of trees he could use but this dumb bird pick my siding to drill in.

For 5 years I have battled Barn Swallows from building nests on my house.When we first moved in there were 3 nests, the first few years there were plenty of Swallows trying to rebuild, but of course I would not let them build on my house, during there nest building phase I cannot leave my garage doors open they will be in there too.

This year there were only 2 swallows trying to build, they tried for close to a month, they just gave up a few dyas ago, the first year there were at least 10 to 12 trying to rebuild, maybe next year they won't come back.

I know they eat mosquitos and all,(but we have bats here for that) but I hate there dirty looking nests on the house, plus when the babies are young the Swallow parents get real aggressive.

We have the following birds here this year, Humming Birds, Gold finches, Pileated Woodpeckers,(The ones that look like Woody Woodpecker), we have all the other wood peckers, Indigo Buntings, Orioles, Eastern Bluebirds, Robins, Bluejays, Bald and Golden Eagles,White Pelicans, Cranes,Geese, all kinds of Ducks,Wid trukeys, Hugarian Partridges, Ruffled and Sharptailed Grouse, Doves I saw a Turkey Vulture flying over me the other day when I was on the lawntractor, maybe that wasn't such a good sign. We have numerous bird species here every summer, but the Ruby Throated Hummers are still my favorite. I saw a bird that looked like a Cuckoo, but we don't have those here, just this Cuckoo Chrysler nut...........Fred

[Plymouthy Adams]

my enemy now are the squirrels..they had cut into my overhead...found the likely spot of entry..get the ladder..discovered they had a theme park built up there..

Thye eat my ignition on the van twice..overnight the second time..(he is dead) and now the buggers cut the apples off my Gala apple tree I have waited for 5 years to produce fruit...I have no plums and the pear tree was stripped overnight it seems of a ton of fruit...the armadillas are not as destructive but they do like to tunnel and will dig fair size holes looking for grubs...

as for wood peckers..I have one that like to tp on the barn roof..I figure he is getting some kind of bug up there...

[55 Fargo]

Gala Apples are my favorite, we can't even grow them here, never mind Pear Trees, only 2 places in Canada you can grow Pears, Peaches, Apricots, Beautiful grapes and all types of Apples, that is in BC, and in the Niagra Region of Ontario.

Them little Squirrel Varmits can be a niuisance here too, along with the Deer, and the rabbits.

Last night while on rounds at the Prison, everywhere I walked that night there was a little Cotton tail lookin at me, some were only tiny babies yet, the convicts are feedin them.............Fred

[Captain Neon]

I lived in a rental house for five years in Minnesota before moving to Colorado last year. We had a woodpecker that liked to peck by our bedroom window. I'm assuming that there were some nasty bugs living under the siding as the gutters were so full of crud that saplings were growing in the eaves. After begging to have the gutters cleaned out for a couple of years, I borrowed a tall ladder and cleaned out the gutters one afternoon. Sent the landlady the bill for my time and gasoline. It was Saturday; she was charged double-time.

Woodpecker stopped comin' 'round after that.

We drove by our old place in Minnesota this past weekend, and it is amazing what a year makes. It looks like a ghetto now. There's a stump in the front where one of the trees were, it looks like it fell over and hit the neighbour's previously nice red oak. My wife's car would likely have been where the tree appears to have fallen. The few branches on the red oak were shortened considerably and it had been topped.

What was once one of the nicest lawns in the neighbourhood is now overgrown and filled with trash in the back. All my fertilising the past four years has got to be a nightmare for whomever is tasked with trimming the grass.

I'm now doing my "magic" on my lawn here in Colorado. The landlady can't be happy with how long I wait to trim, but I am trying to get new seed to grow in the thin and "dead" spots. I'll mow more often next year once I get grass to grow.

[eric wissing]

Hey if you fertilize, you are going to have to mow more often!!. I have my mower raised as high as it will go and mow every 5 days. It does better , especially in the heat. I don't water. It will go dormant but not die. Eric

[Captain Neon]

Here in Colorado, we must water the lawn or it will die. A humid day in Colorado is 35%, and a downpour amounts to less than 1". It's a little inconvenient, but the landlady pays for the water and keeping the lawn watered is a condition of the lease.

[Normspeed]

Capt. Neon, same in SoCal. Only difference, landlady gripes about water costs and jacks up the rent regularly. In SoCal, it's surely "all about the money":rolleyes:

[greg g]

We have had couple problems with squirrels. Nothing like

Tim's but we have hade a canvas gazebo on out deck for the past three years or so. Last summer we came home from a weekend away and noticed the screen around the upper vent was all torn up. We noticed a couple days later that the canvas was being torn aprat in strips. The we noticed a squirell jump up and make a small hole then grab the fabric and start backing up tearing a this strip as he went. I discouraged him with a couple shots from my BB gun, repaired the holes with some sail repair tape and duct tape. But he kept coming back, and kept getting shot at. Apparently he got up early one morning on a mission, and basically destroyed the cover. I finally got the .22 out and withsome bird shot gave him his just reward. Squirrles are psycho. We have a whole group of them and they gorge them selves on our mulberry tree, thusly leave our pears alone.

The other night at dinner we looked out a two deer one with two fawns, three rabbits, a woodchuck, about 6 squirrels, and a mob of chipmunks.

We also have a couple coyotes and red fox around but they seem not to be doing thier jobs.

[Guest M37Dodge]

For years now, I worked crazy hours, so I often was tinkering in the garage/driveway ~10:30PM. This is central PA and a temperate climate (Amish country). Background: Next to the garage/driveway is my wife's flower garden. Now the area has tons of stray cats to eat the rodents at the chicken farms and feed the foxes and 1 coyote. The strays are usually neighbors or farm animals - generally friendly but very skittish.

So, one night I'm working on the Dodge in the garage while standing near the door. I hear rustling in the flower garden 6' away. Assuming, stupidly, it is friendly neighbor's cat, I got lower and made "ss" sounds like a moron welcoming a cat. By now you know what popped out - a skunk. But, he/she did not do the obvious and blast me. Thank heaven as my weight was too far forward and the buger walked the 2' right up me as I was standing up (Again- stupid threatening behavior but I was just thinking get out of there pronto). It walked around my boot as if I was not there and walked into the open garage!! I took a moment to get out of the area, chat/laugh with my wife about it, and went back to the garage to find the skunk was still in it snooping around. It basically walked clockwise and poked its head into everything on a circuit. I tried walking towards him to intimidate him into leaving sooner. Stupid. Now it noticed me! It lifted its tail, pointed its but at me and its back end started bouncing up and down - I very manly ran away. After 1 hour or so, it left the garage w/o scent marking it.

I've seen it pleanty of times since (but not lately) - usually after a rain looking for worms in the flower garden. I don't mess w/ it and it has not tried to get into the garage or sprayed near the house. The skunk may be dead - we have lots of owls and hawks, and a few American Eagles (Canadian transplants).