How to control woodpeckers

Woodpeckers may be really cute when they are in a cartoon, but around your house they can be a real nuisance. They are noisy animals that peck at the walls of your home or the trunk of your trees and can really do a lot of damage. They are looking to get at the bugs and bacteria that can be found in the crevices of the wood, which means that they will dig away at whatever they can get to so that they can reach their intended prey. This can cause some serious damage to your property.

Even if they were not damaging the siding or the roof of your home, the last thing you want is to hear that constant knocking of them banging their beaks against the side of your home at 5 am each morning. This can be a complete nuisance and a major reason why you want to get rid of them.

The big mistake that a whole lot of people make is that they assume that the pesky birds will simply go away after a time. The exact opposite is true in fact. The longer that they are allowed to stay the more comfortable they will get and it will be much more difficult to get them to go away. This is why you must act right away when you notice that they are coming around. If you faced with such a situation, here are some helpful tips to help you with the problem.

You may not want to get rid of the woodpeckers. You simply want them to stop pecking at your home. If this is the case then the easiest solution is to simply give them another food source to get at. One of the gest options available to you is to put up a nesting box in a location that is not right near your home. If you put a much tastier food source in it the woodpeckers will go for it and your problem will be resolved. Be aware that one bad aspect of this is that it can actually lead to more woodpeckers coming around. Instead of having one or two you may have a half dozen in no time. That may not be a big concern for you if you are only concerned with them pecking at your home.

The next option is to try to scare them away. Woodpeckers can be easily startled by loud noises, so you can use this to your advantage. Whenever you hear them banging away outside, you can run out there and do a little banging of your own. Hitting a spoon against a pot or other metal container can really do the trick. They will be startled by this and leave.

You may not always be around to accomplish this, or may not want to run outside at 5 am when they are banging away. An alternative is to set up a wind chime like rigging with some pans that will make some noise. Of course, you may have to deal with some banging for a while, but at least it will keep them away. After a time, you can take that down as you notice that they have been gone for a while. 

Another great idea that is a lot less noisy but can have just as much of an effect is to hang up aluminum strips near where the woodpecker is known to come. Fasten them in such a way that they will move, preferably in a twirling motion. The reflection will cause the woodpecker to be startled because of the intermittent manner in which it will occur. This can be a very effective tool in riding yourself of the woodpeckers, particularly because it is a very easy and inexpensive idea to employ. You can have the woodpeckers startled away in no time at all.

One thing that many suggest is to get plastic statues of animals such as owls, hawks, and snakes and place them close to where the woodpecker is coming. These can work much like a scarecrow scares away a blackbird. Simply place them out and see if this will keep them away. It is recommended that you move them around every couple of days so that the woodpecker will not get used to them and get wise to the fact that they are not real.

There are also repellents that you can buy that will be effective in keeping them away. Most of them are a sticky kind of substance that is placed in the area where they are pecking. Because of the texture of the substance, the woodpeckers do not like to dig at it and many come with products in them that are irritants to the woodpecker. They can be very effective, and don't need to be reapplied after rain because of the texture.

There are also physical barriers that you can buy. They are a wire mesh, often referred to as a hardware cloth, that can put around an area where the woodpeckers are known to be pecking at your home. This material, made of metal and thick plastic, can be incredibly effective in keeping the woodpeckers away. Even if they have started working on a specific location, the mesh will keep them from reaching it again to continue their work. This can even be painted to match the color of your home so you do not have any kind of an eye sore appearing. 



Also read our other bird tip: Will a high pitch sound deterrent machine work to get rid of pigeons?