Woodpecker damage can be unsightly and we get a lot of calls for them.
Typically, woodpeckers will peck at the corner of the home and also at areas where there is known insect activity. Such is the case in this picture where the birds have opened carpenter bee exit holes to get at the overwintering bees inside.
The perfectly round hole second in from the right is from a carpenter bee and the irregular shaped holes are from the woodpeckers pecking into the galleries.
Woodpecker damage to an area that has carpenter bee’s
Control?
Since woodpeckers are federally protected and a special permit is needed to kill them. The most practical way of ridding your home of them is with scare tactics. The following work quite well:
1. Owl statues
2. Floating spiders (very similar) to a yo-yo and activated by movement
3. Christmas tinsel or flash tape on the side of the home.
4. Tie a pie plate to some fishing line and let it swing in the breeze.
No method is full proof and don’t be shocked if your scare them from one area only so they can go to another.
Persistence is the key!