Northern Flicker 3 - Jerry 0
For the past three years, we have been suffering from a woodpecker attack at our house. Every year they show up at the south side of our house, find a nice perch on our window trim, and start pecking away at the wood. Each year, several holes up to 1″ in diameter show up on our exterior. And each year I climb up a very tall ladder to fill them with bondo, sand, paint. And then repeat the next year.
The woodpeckers that are problematic for us are the Northern Flicker.
According to the Portland Audobon Society,
During breeding season (April-June) male woodpeckers will drum on loud surfaces to establish their territory and attract a mate. Favorite sites for this kind of “rat-a-tat-tat” drumming are gutters, downspouts and flashing, but woodpeckers will also use siding as well.
This sounds exactly like the problem that we have been dealing with. And that also explains what I previously thought was bizarre behavior - the woodpecker pounding on metal vent terminators on our neighbor’s roof.
Determined to stop this cycle, I ordered some stainless steel bird spikes from Nixalite and frantically installed them yesterday as spring is truly upon us and our house is swarming with the pesky Northern Flickers. By 3pm, they were all installed on the south side of the house. I was buoyed by a report from Katie of a confused woodpecker looking for, and failing to find, a place to start pecking into the walls near our bedroom.
A half an our later, I was sitting at my computer while Paloma was playing in the living room, and I started to year a rhythmic, loud banging. At first I thought it was Paloma, banging on her drums or a table. But the sound was too loud, too rhythmic to be her. Sure enough, it turns out the clever bird found a nice perch on the north side of the house, and was banging away on the siding…. Defeated, I opened the window to shoo away the bird. At least Paloma got some pleasure in seeing the pretty bird up close.
An interesting option for dealing with these birds, from the Audobon Society’s web page is to install a sound deadening device where the birds like to perch. I may consider that as a quicker, and cheaper, option versus the Nixalite for the future.
You win this time, Mr. Flicker, but next year will be different…