woodpeckers are damaging my stucco home...HELP!!

-- Helen (hhdweathers@netscape.net), February 21, 2002

Answers

Woodpeckers are seeking insects, maybe pressure cleaning the nooks and crannies would help.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), February 21, 2002.

If the peckerwoods are pecking, you may want to check for deterioration in the structure. Most often they bore where the bugs already are.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 21, 2002.

Hi Helen, the info above is correct. The Woodpecker/Flicker family are after little crawlies. You might contact your County Extension Service and see what they suggest but I think cleaning to get the insects etc. out may be the answer. Don't know if any kind of coating with help or not, the contractors on this board would know more about that. Good luck, I hope you get back here and let us know what happens. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 21, 2002.

Imagine that...someone asked the same question I needed an answer to. My husband is driving me crazy with the "get the gun and run out of the house to shoot the woodpecker" routine. We are plagued with woodpeckers boring holes in our log cabin. Mike shoots the varmits and more show up with friends to help with the boring. We have just recently applied a protective coating with an insecticide added to it to protect against the "crawlies"....apparently that is not working...or the woodpeckers are not there for that reason. We are stumped as to what else to do to stop this destruction. We have applied chicken wire to the areas that is being attacked. The birds just go under the wire and continue their pecking. Yesterday, a neighbor suggested that we hang plastic snakes in those areas and put some inside in the loft area. She says those are good to get rid of rats also.I am on a mission to find plastic snakes by the weekend. I sure hope this plan works.

Ev in NE Texas

-- Evelyn T. Flesher (etflesher@netexas.net), February 21, 2002.

Hanging a plastic gocery bag with a few feet of string will keep birds away. The slightest breeze makes them move around scaring the birds away. Also, a pest control company will gladly give you a free inspection. But if they find an insect problem they will try to sale you their service for a lot of money. Definitely get another quote if an insect problem is found.

-- Bob (woods_hick@yahoo.com), February 21, 2002.

In my job I once had a complaint from a fellow who had woodpecker damage so bad on his cedar sided house that he was able to at least look into getting a permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to actually kill them to get rid of the problem! (They are a protected species and it's otherwise illegal to kill them). They go after bugs and they drum on gutters or wood to mark territory and they excavate cavities for nests so any one of those reasons might be the reason for the activity. Hardware cloth on the eaves, mylar tape, plastic owls, bird tanglefoot etc. are all often reccomended for the problem.

-- Susan in MO (smtroxel@socket.net), February 22, 2002.

There is this stuff you can buy its real sticky and you put it were the birds are landing or pecking it get on there feet and they don't like it so they stay away it realy workes I can't think of the name off hand but maybe pine tar or vasilean check at your local hardwear store ther was a picture of a bird on the bottle or maybe it was a seed catalog were I had found the stuff good luck...Jimbo

-- Jim L (MI U.P.) (jtbutcher30@hotmail.com), February 23, 2002.

Using a SuperSoaker giant water gun filled with a mixture of water and hot sauce tends to annoy the birds (both when you hit them and the area where they peck). This also works with pigeons. And for the animal lovers out there, it does not harm the birds.

-- Kristen (kristencjunkmail@yahoo.com), April 08, 2002.

I've got some dead pines on the edge of my pasture nearest my house and the peckerwoods have really been working them this year. There's a pair of pileateds and another pair of red headeds that I've been watching. I'm starting to get to where I can identify the species from the sounds of the individual knocks.

There was also a pair that I still haven't been able to identify (and who haven't made another appearance yet) that might have been red cockaded woodpeckers. Can't decide if I'm delighted at getting to see a rare species or concerned over the implications of possibly having an edangered species nesting in my trees with all that such a thing implies.

......Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), April 08, 2002.