Wildlife of the Month
email: uge1067@uga.edu
Woodpeckers
“No, sir, the ‘thump, thump, thump’ you are hearing is not a late season ‘little drummer boy’. You are more than likely being disturbed by this month’s pesky critter, the Woodpecker!!”
In February, a typical call to the Cobb County Horticulture Hotline can sound just like this. The woodpecker is one of the most interesting and annoying critters to plague homeowners. You can expect to hear more from them in the latter part of this month as they mark out their territories.
In Georgia, there is one classified family of woodpeckers containing eight species.
The woodpecker ranges in size from 7 – 17 in. in length with brightly contrasting colorations, depending on the species. Most males have some red on the head with black and white marks. The Pileated Woodpecker adults have a red crest, dark bills, white chins with a small, white “eye stripe” that extends from behind the eye to the red crest. The Red-bellied Woodpecker is sandy brown on the belly, throat, chin, and sides of face; light reddish wash on the belly; black-and-white barring on the back and wings. Both the males and females have red napes (lower portion of the neck or back of head). The Red-cockaded Woodpecker has a white breast and belly, with black spots on the outer breast. Males have a small red tuft behind the eye that is difficult to see. The Northern Flicker looks more brown overall, does not have the red nape or crown, has a large white rump patch, and has a black bib. The Red-headed Woodpecker has a completely red head and a very striking black and white body pattern, with black on the tail, outer flight feathers, and main portion of the wing. The Downy Woodpecker and the Hairy Woodpecker both have white backs rather than the black and white ladder found on the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has a red forehead and white patches on its wings and rump.
The bill of a woodpecker is long and chisel - like. They generally have a stiff pointed tail and short legs. Woodpeckers have zygodactyl (two toes pointing forward and two pointing backwards) feet. They have a unique arrangement of tendons in the toes and distinctive leg muscles that help them forage in trees.
Woodpeckers have characteristic calls, but they also use a rhythmic pecking sequence to make their presence known. Referred to as “drumming”, it establishes their territories and apparently attracts or signals mates. Drumming is generally done on resonant dead tree trunks, buildings, homes, and utility poles.
Woodpeckers take prey by drilling or prying loose bark off trees and occasionally fallen logs. Once a tree is found that has high insect numbers (usually a dead or dying tree), large amounts of the tree may be removed in search of prey. The holes it excavates to gather food can be very large and are usually oval shaped. The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a dominant species and it will take the only cavities available, pushing out other species if necessary. They are also known to be nest predators, commonly taking nestlings and eggs from other cavity nests. They use their stiff tail and distinctly arranged toes (two toes pointing forward and two toes facing backward) to balance as they move up and down tree trunks and branches to pick prey off trees. They will also eat on the ground or from bird feeders in more urban areas. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker diet consists mostly of wood-boring insects such as beetle larvae, but it may also eat other insects, fruits, and seeds.
The breeding season begins in mid-March, peaks in April, and extends to late-May/early July. The male and female excavate a cavity in a dead tree approximately 4.5-24 m (15-80 feet) above the ground. The cavity is usually lined with wood chips. The female lays 3-5 (usually 4) eggs that both adults incubate for 15-18 days. The male incubates at night and the female during the day. Both adults care for the young while they are in the nest. The young are altricial, or naked and blind at birth.
In the United States, the woodpecker’s range covers most of the eastern half of the country and the northwestern states south to northern California. It is fairly common throughout the Southeast, except in southern Florida. In Georgia, breeding populations are lower in the central part of the state.
Houses or buildings with wood exteriors in suburbs or in rural wooded settings are most apt to suffer pecking and hole damage. Generally, damage to a building involves only one or two birds, but it may involve up to six or eight during a season. Most of the damage occurs from February through June, which corresponds with the breeding season and the period of territory establishment. They will drill holes, cavities, and “drum” on buildings, utility poles, wood sidings, chimneys, eaves, window frames, and trim boards. Woodpeckers prefer cedar and redwood siding, but will damage pine, cypress, brick, aluminum siding, stucco, chimney caps, and others when the choices are limited.
Woodpeckers peck at houses for basically three possible reasons:
Although it is said that woodpeckers do not like shiny materials, they have been known to do otherwise. Therefore, when a Woodpecker pecks at shiny objects he is probably drumming (he likes the sound) or he sees his reflection. If he still pecks at it, then it is possibly due to his seeing a reflection of himself and thinking it is another bird.
Don't Give Up Hope: In one study, 50 % of the time, the birds stopped drumming within two weeks or so whether the homeowners did anything or not.
Woodpeckers may cause damage to trees. Sapsuckers bore a series of parallel rows of closely spaced holes in the bark of limbs or trunks of healthy trees and use their tongues to remove the sap. Birds usually feed on ornamental or fruit trees. At times limb and trunk girdling may be damaging enough to kill the tree.
Woodpeckers are a federally protected bird under the North American Migratory Bird Act. Do not use lethal control on woodpeckers without contacting your Federal Wildlife Officer. You will need to institute non-lethal control strategies before you will receive permission to implement lethal control. (See below for information on non-lethal woodpecker control). Unfortunately, there is no easy, guaranteed solution. So with all that being said, the following strategies are suggested:
First: Cover all holes as soon as possible. Place a metal sheathing or plastic sheeting over the pecked areas on building siding to offer permanent protection from continued damage. Occasionally the birds will move over to an unprotected spot and the protected area must be expanded. Aluminum flashing is easy to work with to cover damaged sites. Woodpeckers will sometimes peck through aluminum flashing. Metal sheathing can be disguised with paint or stimulated wood grain to match the siding.
Just make sure that the woodpecker is not living in your home. Disturbing a woodpecker den or killing one is a federal offense.
Second: Harass and scare the woodpecker causing damage using one or more of the following techniques. Remember no harassment technique works all the time or in every situation. It may take a variety of techniques and repeated prevention methods to effectively solve the problem.
Ø Mylar tape. Try running some mylar tape (1 inch wide strips) around the area where he is pecking. Woodpeckers typically do not like shiny objects. Alternatives to mylar tape include tin foil, metal strips, or small mirrors.
Ø Distress/Audio Tapes. There are machines that digitally recreate woodpecker distress calls. When you turn on the device, it spooks the woodpecker.
Ø Scary Eye balloons. These balloons mimic the look of an owl that may spook the woodpeckers. Click Balloons
Ø Sound: Loud noises such as hand clapping or banging on a garbage can lid have been used to frighten woodpeckers away from houses.
Ø Garden Hoses: Pre position a garden hose with a sprinkler set up on an angle to reach where the bird is drumming. Turn on the hose and watch the woodpeckers leave. It only takes a few squirts. They leave quickly and do not like hanging on to wet siding.
Ø Tactile: Sticky or tacky bird repellants such as Tanglefoot®, or ROOST NO MORE®, smeared or placed in wavy bands with a caulking gun on limbs or trunks where sap-suckers are working will discourage birds. This repellent can also be applied to wood siding and other areas of structural damage. The birds are not entrapped by the stick substances, but rather, dislike the tacky footing. (CAUTION: some sticky bird repellents will discolor painted, stained, or natural wood siding)
DO NOT USE Owl Effigies. Unless you are willing to move it around on a daily basis, understand that at best the effigy will work only in the short term (if at all).
Third. Employ exclusion techniques. If woodpeckers are damaging your siding under an eave, hang some netting from the eave line down to the ground. A lightweight, plastic, bird-type netting or a mesh net is generally recommended. If the net is extended away from the house wall, the woodpecker can't get close enough to damage the wood. If installed properly, the netting is barely visible from a distance and will offer a long-term solution to the damage problem.
Woodpeckers can be very persistent and are not easily driven from their territories or selected pecking sites. In any event, once a woodpecker problem has been noted, you should act quickly to discourage him before the woodpecker decides your home is a nice place to live!!
USDA - APHIS Animal Damage Control
USDA-APHIS-ADC Managing Urban Pest Bird Problems
Laurene Hall
former horticulture program assistant
The University of Georgia and Ft. Valley State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and counties of the state cooperating. The Cooperative Extension Service offers educational programs, assistance and materials to all people without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex or disability.