[Mnbird] woodpeckers pecking question

Steve Weston sweston2 at comcast.net
Fri Oct 21 02:49:08 CDT 2016


In the 25 years or so that I have lived in my house, which has extensive
cedar, I have had only minor damage from woodpeckers. Most years I fill a
few small woodpecker holes with caulk. Occasionally I replace a board. I
have been lucky. We have lots of woodpeckers and I go through a lot of
suet. I suspect that my house does not have many bugs in the walls.

I find that the woodpeckers that drum on my wood duck houses do little
damage. They scatter their pounding so they don't chew up the wood when
they are making the noise. It is the much quieter pecking on the walls that
does the damage and leaves small holes.

Steve Weston
On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN
sweston2 at comcast.net

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 7:55 PM, Sue Keator via Mnbird <
mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:

> I have found that downys peck the hole guards on my chickadee houses in
> the fall. I take the guards off and they move in for roosting in winter. In
> Spring, they vacate again and I put the guards back on.
> Sue on Melody Lake
>
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 5:43 PM, Jim Fitzpatrick via Mnbird <
> mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:
>
>> My theory on Woodpeckers is this. Young of the year birds are quickly
>> becoming self sufficient but do not know all oif the tricks the adults use
>> to tell which wood to peck on, At this time of year insects are getting
>> scarce and tough to find. Youngsters are pecking on everything they can
>> find to see if there are insects inside. This includes siding and bird
>> houses and eaves and chimneys and telephone poles and everything to find
>> something to eat. If they find something under your siding, Oh boy, look
>> out because they will not quit doing it no matter what you do.
>>
>> Jim Fitzpatrick
>> Emeritus Executive Director
>> Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 4:26 PM, DONALD GRUSSING Owner via Mnbird <
>> mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:
>>
>>> I have one that just made a new hole on a chickadee house just below the
>>> metal guard that protected the 1 1/8 in hole. I don't know why they do it,
>>> they just do. They have wrecked dozens of bird houses over the years.  I am
>>> going to replace this one next spring with one of those houses made from
>>> composites. That will be the end of that (I hope). As for now, the male
>>> downy is happily going into the house every twilight for a good night's
>>> sleep. It's kind of like the old Outhouse joke, it has more status because
>>> it's a two-holer.
>>>
>>> Don Grusing
>>> Minnetonka
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From: *"Betsy Kerr via Mnbird" <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net>
>>> *To: *mnbird at lists.mnbird.net
>>> *Sent: *Thursday, October 20, 2016 1:32:23 PM
>>> *Subject: *[Mnbird] woodpeckers pecking question
>>>
>>> Woodpeckers are currently pecking large holes in my sister's cedar-sided
>>> home in Pennsylvania, as they do every Spring and Fall.  At the same time,
>>> a male Downy WP has been continually pecking every morning on the face of
>>> one of our Bluebird houses (including on the metal hole guard).  A
>>> female--I presume, his partner--has regularly roosted in the past in this
>>> box, as well as in the other one in our yard. My question is, why do they
>>> peck on a birdhouse like this in the Fall?
>>>
>>> Betsy Kerr
>>> Golden Valley
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Mnbird mailing list
>>> Mnbird at lists.mnbird.net
>>> http://lists.mnbird.net/mailman/listinfo/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Mnbird mailing list
>>> Mnbird at lists.mnbird.net
>>> http://lists.mnbird.net/mailman/listinfo/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mnbird mailing list
>> Mnbird at lists.mnbird.net
>> http://lists.mnbird.net/mailman/listinfo/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mnbird mailing list
> Mnbird at lists.mnbird.net
> http://lists.mnbird.net/mailman/listinfo/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.lists.mnbird.net/pipermail/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net/attachments/20161021/13f11fe4/attachment.htm>


More information about the Mnbird mailing list