While outside feeding our rabbits and chickens the other morning I heard the familiar sound of a woodpecker knock knock knocking away. It didn't take me long to find where the noise was coming from. Of course I would have guessed it to be a dead tree or branch, however, that's not the case, nope. This little lady, no really this is a female woodpecker - a Downy Woodpecker, was pounding away on the neighbors house, hehehe!
As you can see she's done quite a bit of damage too. Apparently, there are several possible reasons why woodpeckers peck at houses:
- Searching for (drilling) bugs (rare) but consider it if occurring during the winter
- Building (drilling) a home (rare) but if it happens it'll be done in the spring
- Marking territory (common) a phenomenon called "drumming"
- They're attracted to the buzz of electrical wires and appliances in a house, which may mimic the rustling of insects in the wood
2 comments:
See the shape of the damage? That's insect damage. The woodpecker is just making it obvious. From the location, I would guess carpenter bees are in there. The same thing happened to my parents house - carpenter bees attracted woodpeckers, and the woodpeckers were unfairly blamed.
There is lots of good info and photos at this website: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/wp_about/insects.html
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