Q&A: Problematic Woodpeckers

Why do woodpeckers damage my tree , and how do I stop them?-Dorothy Schuster , Brooklyn , New York

Thomas Barnes , wildlife extension phone specialiser for the University of Kentucky in Lexington , responds : Many of us remember the “ ha - ha - ha - HA - ha ” cry of the illustrious television character , Woody Woodpecker . The constant tapping of an acorn woodpecker , which reportedly kept Walter Lantz awake at night , inspired the cartoonist to create this animate creature . While this fictional raspberry is likable , substantial woodpecker can do a tidy sum of legal injury .

Show those birds who’s boss

Because pecker are protected by Union natural law , it is illegal to kill them without a permit . There are humane method of manipulate them , but it will often require a right bit of solitaire andpersistence .

The first step in solving a impairment problem is to closely examine the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree for insects or disease . If you find oneself either , treat the tree fittingly . The next step is to keep the skirt away from that website by confine the region in aluminum flash , metal , or plastic sheeting . If that does n’t put to work , add a gummy repellent to the textile . Try scaring the bird away by pip a jacket gun , knock down a siren , or banging on pots and pans every individual time you see them . Deter the birds by using Mylar tape or other tacky material near the site . Scare them off using a enceinte , brightly colored , inflatable balloon with eye or an owl or snake in the grass steerer .

There are a number of grounds why pecker tap on trees , bet on the season and the skirt species causing the job . In spring , woodpeckers , like most species , get into the mating business enterprise . The birds check out trees that produce unlike sounds - acknowledge as drumming doings - to attract a mate and to lay claim their territory . This tapping does not commonly cause severe harm to a tree and is often done on dead or die Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . When the birds get serious about mating , however , theywill excavate a hole to make a nesting cavity , resulting in damage that may top to further combat injury from other pests if the bodily cavity is abandoned . After the young have flight from the nest , these cavities can be used for roosting or sleep throughout the remainder of the year .

During summer and fall , most woodpecker equipment casualty to trees is a result of feeding activeness for insects or insect larva , which means the tree has some disease result . I have seen an intact tree diagram shredded by the feeding activity of pileated woodpeckers . Other pecker , like the acorn or red - headed pecker , make holes to hive away acorns or other food item to help them get through wintertime . The small-scale sapsucker pecker practice a serial of small holes in a communication channel , just late enough to cause sap to flow , and then feeds on the saphead as well as on the worm that are pull to the sap . lastly , some woodpeckers just tap and hammer to get recitation or because they are blase .

-FromFine Gardeningissue # 140 , page 23

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