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CaptainJ
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2012 21:43
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This summer for some reason woodpeckers have decided that they like pecking at my cabin. It stopped for awhile after I stained the siding, but now it's started up again. They seem to work around the seams of the T1-11 siding. Any ideas short of my 20 ga. shotgun?
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2012 21:46
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The shotgun will make bigger hoiles in the walls than the 'peckers.... 
sorry nothing to add to that
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CaptainJ
Member
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2012 21:54
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Actually when I hear them and walk outside they go to adjacent trees, so I can pick them off without hitting the cabin. But I appreciate the thought MtnDon. I've been using firearms all my life so I had NO plans of shooting them while ON the cabin.
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2012 22:01
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hope the intended humor came across okay.
Hope they are not one of the endangered species. I know someone in CA who had a problem and had to be careful about running afoul of the law. But I don;t recall his solution if he had one.
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neb
Member
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2012 22:02 - Edited by: neb
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Get a few owl's and hang them near the cabin. I have seen this work. It may help with your problem. You can let them swing free air and the movement and being an owl should help.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 28 Nov 2012 00:28
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Put up bird houses around the cabin area. Other cabin owners in my area ran into the same exact problem. The birdhouses fixed it. A few fake owls may do the trick too.
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PA_Bound
Member
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# Posted: 28 Nov 2012 08:21
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Is it just one area of a cabin wall, or all over? I ask because it's worth a few seconds to consider "why?" they are pecking the cabin. Woodpeckers often peck because they hear a food source in the wood, or *think* they do. If they're pecking all over the cabin this is less of a possibility, but if it's just one area I would make sure there are no insects or other critters in the wall. They may actually be alerting you to a problem. If the wall is insect free, and they are only focused in one area, think about what is on the inside of that wall area. Is there any noise source on the inside of that wall section that could make wood peckers *think* there are insects in the wall?
I read in a birding magazine about someone having this problem with woodpeckers. The woodpeckers went away when they moved a small aquarium away from the interior wall behind where the woodpeckers were attacking. The thinking is the little aquarium air pump was too close the wall, and the woodpeckers could hear it and thought it was insect activity.
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bobbotron
Member
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# Posted: 28 Nov 2012 09:28
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You could put a coat of zinc naphthenate on the wall. It's a clear wood preservative, I imagine that the wood peckers wouldn't want to peck through it, it has a somewhat unpleasant smell, and I imagine, taste.
I agree with what PA_Bound said, why are they interested in your wall?
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groingo
Member
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# Posted: 28 Nov 2012 10:40
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You might want to take a closer look for bugs in you walls or a bees nest, Woodpeckers are great for bug detecting, if you have Woodpecker you have bugs, don't kill him, you should be thanking him!
Now, get rid of the bugs!
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 28 Nov 2012 10:45
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They peck during mating season to call too. Then peck a hole to make a nest for their young. Try the bird house trick, locate a few around your cabin. Cabins around me had the same issue, no bugs.
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CaptainJ
Member
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# Posted: 28 Nov 2012 11:49
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Thanks for the replies. At first it was mainly around the seams where two of the siding sheets meet. But the Cabin was in need of a new coat of stain and I coated those seams especially heavy. However, they were also working on flat areas at times. They work all the trees in the area and have managed to kill a couple of walnut trees by eating through them to the point of them then rotting. I lost a 65' walnut in September where it broke off 25' up due to being weakened. Since I did the new coat of oil based stain, they seem to just pick spots a random, they hit all four sides so it's not something they're hearing through the walls and other than wasps in the spring I'm not finding any other bugs or insects (they don't like the stain either). So I guess I'll get a couple rubber owls and put out some birdhouses and see if that works...
CaptainJ
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TheWildMan
Member
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# Posted: 28 Nov 2012 16:26
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they are likely pecking after something that sounds like food, i had one do that on an old house i owned, when i really got close to examine i found carpenter ants (those huge black ones) had moved in and were building a nest/hive, i killed 100s of them with gas insecticide and kept them from coming back. birds didn't bother the place again.
you could also use plastic predatory birds or a couple old CDs on a string that flash in sunlight (birds hate it and keep a good distance, i use this method to keep them out of the garden, works with about a 10' radius)
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 28 Nov 2012 19:26
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Hahaha. Go out into nature to enjoy the solitude and wildlife. Until the wildlife bothers you, then kill it !! You sure sound foolish, in my opinion. The woodpeckers were there before you and will be there long after you are gone. They did not kill the walnut trees, the trees are infested already. Read a book for goodness sakes!
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TheWildMan
Member
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:54
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Anonymous, 1 point i agree with, and another i may question.
i agree with not shooting the bird, they should not waste the ammo on it, the bird is there for a reason and shooting it will only leave a gap in the habitat for another bird to come in (same with beavers in this area, people think killing 1 will prevent their place flooding but another just moves in, they don't think about the choice streamside habitat that is attracting beavers).
a number of people have asked me about removing woodpeckers that were killing their trees, the trees in question had no bugs in them, a lot of people don't recognize the diference between woodpeckers and their cousin the sapsucker (both peck holes in trees, 1 eats insects in dying trees the other pokes holes in healthy ones to drink sap). around here a couple sap suckers can (and many times have) killed even large trees. they aggressivly drink from one tree over and over until its girdled and killed. without seeing a picture of the damage to determine the species that did it, it may be possible the tree was killed, but by a sapsucker mistaken for a woodpecker (they killed a number of butternut trees around here, aka white walnut, same botanical family - often people mistake it for a walnut tree).
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rayyy
Member
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 17:29
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My old neighbor had the same probleme,a woodpecker peckeing on his house.It's my understanding that they like that resinating,hollow sound to attract lady wood peckers.Unfortunatelly he had to shoot it to get it to stop.Was doing damage to his house.Luckly,Iv'e never had this problem.I feed all my local bird's.They are content!
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larry
Member
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 21:54
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Quoting: rayyy they like that resonating,hollow sound to attract lady wood peckers.
the woodys in my area do the same except with metal signs you wanna talk about loud! they haven't found the cabin yet.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 23:50
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Quoting: larry the woodys in my area do the same except with metal signs you wanna talk about loud! they haven't found the cabin yet.
That is the mating call for them. They have a special rhythm they use, starts out fast, then tapers off/slows down. Usually only in the springtime.
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Cooks Dock
Member
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2012 11:40
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What good does hanging a couple of dead owls around your camp do?
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2012 12:56
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Hi Cooks Dock we hung one in the front of the cabin because birds were crapping on our picnic table and the porch overhang. I read that a owl would scare some birds away.So I got a plastic one from West Marine and Don hung it. It really works and we have no more bird crap problems!
Hope you have a great holiday season.
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Martian
Member
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2012 13:08
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Leave a few dead trees in your yard for them to peck on.
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