Anyone know about the behavior of Red Headed Woodpeckers?

Hi everyone,

Anyone understand the behavior of Woodpeckers?

We have a very tall house ... walk-out basement, 2 living area floors, and then a very high attic area that could be turned into another floor. Point being ... I can't see up there, and I'm not going to be climbing up there. LOL

The past 2 days, I have been hearing this, tat tat tat tat tat, outside my bedroom window. The exact area it comes from changes, but usually in two different spots. I can't see exactly where it is coming from, but I did see a Red Headed Woodpecker fly off from the general area once, and the sound stopped. I'm sure he/she's the culprit. Probably a he, as it sure was pretty. ;)

Our house has vinyl siding and gutters, and regular roofing shingles (what ever those are made of). No trees right near the house either.

Any ideas on what is attracting this bird, and what he is trying to do/get?

Wondering if I should hang something that will flap in the wind out the windows to keep him away. Maybe this is a seasonal thing?

We do have lots of Woodpeckers here, but I've never had one attack the house before.

Any suggestions or thoughts? Photo below shows our house, and the bird is "attacking" the right hand /south corner of the upstairs.

Can't help you there but you sure have one beautiful home..

Loretta..

Thanks Loretta.

Only been here 5 years or is it 6 now ... how time flies.
We love living out in the country after growing up and living in Warren & Roseville for 45 plus years.

I have many of the large red woodpeckers but they just eat at the feeders the only ones that may tap on the wood siding is the little downies and they crack me up they do that when the suet's gone or hang on the siding and look in the window by the feeder. The larger ones the red headed and the red breasted are the larger and do pound on some of the trees but that is odd they usually go after bugs in the trees but have seen them hide their seeds in the bark. Thats usually in the fall though. maybe they stashed some seeds in your siding last fall? I sure get alot of enjoyment watching them though. Have you ever had bats? We had one in the attic one year and I kept hearing odd noises we did end up putting screen in a coupleof spots so they couldn't get in but we have a bat house outside for them.
Good luck with it. I love your house!
Kim

Found this while searching for information:

"Woodpeckers may peck on a house for several reasons. In spring, they may drum on the wood siding or even on metal gutters simply because it makes a nice (to them) sound, and drumming is one way that woodpeckers communicate with each other. This usually causes little damage to the house, but can be very annoying—especially when they begin the concert while you are trying to sleep!"

"The handling of woodpecker problems usually requires both harassment and obstruction. If you change the environment around the problem area, it may make them nervous enough to leave. People have had success with: fake owls, large rubber snakes, scary pictures of hawks or big-eyed predators in nearby windows, wind-chimes, pieces of dangling bright metal or tinsel, etc."

Maybe I need to get a fake Hawk and let it perch out on the roof. ;)

We haven't seen bats, but we did purchase a bat house last Fall in hopes of seeing some. Haven't put it out yet, because we don't know what kind of a spot to put it in. Do you know where we should hang it bluektodd?

Here is a link to where to hang a bat house. We have ours on an outbuilding but also have several ponds which draw them because of the insects. We also run a gravel pit so they like the exposure I think. We also get cliff and barn swallows any of our high banks can get hundreds of holes in them which the cliff swallows use for nesting. We were fortunate that bats already lived in some of the out buildings when we moved here. At dusk we see them all over above the ponds and don't have much of a mosquito problem because of them. Here is the link. http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/bats/bat7.html

Oh I could just loan you my bird he he. I have a large umbrella cockatoo and when she gets excited she can get very loud and scares the birds outside at times. She really hates it when they hit the windows.

Beautiful Bird!

Thanks for the link to find information about the bats.

We have a creek/drain that runs through our property, a bog area, and even a swamp on the property right next to ours, so there are lots of mosquitoes in that area. Would love some bats to eat them.

Right now it is mating time for the woodpeckers. My woods are full of the echoing of the tap tap tapping. :) It's spring and love is in bloom.

So, probably what I have here is a male Woodpecker in search of a mate. He was still up there tapping this morning, but I didn't hear anyone answering him.

It most definitely sounds like you have a woodpecker in search of a mate :-) This thread reminds me of an occurrence from my young childhood:

My folks have lived on the same road for almost my entire life. it is in the city of Ann Arbor, but it's a wooded area and there is a bird sanctuary across the Huron River. All in all, it's a very convenient place to live yet it has all the comforts of nature. One year, late in the spring (though there was still plenty of snow), my dad and I were playing chess in front of the fireplace and we heard this amazing drumming sound. We stopped playing and started to search for the source of the sound... All to no avail.

This went on for a few more days, until one day my dad decided to take a look outside the house. When he got outside and took a look up at the little metal chimney pipe and there was a beautiful Red-Bellied Woodpecker just drumming his little beak off. Although my dad is not a great bird lover like my mom and I, he just couldn't bring himself to shoo the poor woodpecker away even though the sound was driving him bonkers. Well, about three weeks later the drumming subsided. The poor guy finally found a mate. We figured that either some woodpecker lady was incredibly impressed by the amount of racket that this guy could make, or else some lady got sick of the noise and agreed to take him in so long as he would be quiet! :-)

My Woodpecker is getting louder and more persistent. I hope some Lady takes a shine to him soon.

We had one this weekend pecking his head off-i think it sounds awesome!! :)

I enjoy the noise on trees more than I do on the house. I love watching them this time of year because of their antics.

My mom has a new woodpecker who moved in just 2 years ago. But every spring he bangs his head against the lower left corner of one of the garage windows. Just in the spot where he can make the window vibrate and the siding shake LOL.

Then there was this wren... We heard this wonderful singing, and couldn't determine where it was coming from. So my DH, mother and I went outside to try and find the bird. We looked all around the usual spots and still didn't find him. I went up to the top of the driveway (she has a circular drive that is very steep down to the house) and looked at the huge weeping cherry tree near the garage. Perched up in the very tip top was this wren... And he was singing his heart out! It was so baffling because everything echoes around the driveway from that point. You could hear his singing way down the street in either direction. It was very neat!

Hello all,
We have about 3-4 different kinds of woodpeckers that frequent our yard, which never ceases to amaze me when i see them.

In the spring they like to drum on our fireplace chimney starting at 6 AM. LOL Its kind of annoying because of the time but it never fails to make us smile.

When i first started staying over here (hubby and i were dating) i was in the 'puter room and heard someone knocking at the door, when i answered it, no one was there. I went back to the puter. Few minutes later someone kn ocked again, a bit more insistently. Again, noone at the door. So checked the side door, in case my visitor had gone there. Nope.
after about 15-20 min. knocking again! Finally i went outside and walked around the house looking for kids pulling a prank.
As i rounded the corner 2 Woodpeckers flew off!!!! They had been pecking at the wood fascia (near the peaks just below the roofline but above the vinyl siding).
They were eating the carpenter bees that had taken up residence in the wood.

The fascia is damaged visibly now but we dont mind as DH had been trying to get rid of the bees for a while- still are, nothing kills them apparently except the woodpeckers!!!LOL (and when he gets around to it, the fascia will be replaced and sided anyway)

So if they are doing damage look for brownish/yellow splatter marks on your vinyl siding below the fascia. If there are: marks + woodpeckers= carpenter bees.

Otherwise he's probably waiting for a mate.

Ness ;-)

I can't help with your woodpecker problem, but I thought I'd share my own bird problem. We have wild turykeys around our house that we see on a regular basis. Every once in a while one will decide to peck on our basement windows. So far they haven't done any real damage, but they peck pretty hard and I'm always afraid they'll break one. I'm not sure why they peck either, but I've always figured that it might have something to do with seeing their reflections.

I have feed for the last few years many different woodpeckers from Sapsucker's, Downy's, Hairy's, Red-bellied and my favorite the Pileated. I have watched a pair (male and female) of Pileated come to my suet feeder all winter, and although insects are starting to be abundant, they still come twice a day and feed. It took two years to lour them in as I knew they inhabited my surrounding area. It is amazing to watch as my feeders are only two feet from my windows. The female is graceful as she pecks every so lightly only taking what she needs and the male - very opposite - hammers at the feed - masculine and aggressive making a mess below.
I was listening to a radio station and there was a segment on woodpeckers. A couple called in with the same problem - a woodpecker wouldn't leave their house alone and yes - they also have vinyl siding. I was surprised to hear the response that was given by the DNR representative as he expressed that woodpeckers don't just peck always for fun. He advised that the couple have their house checked for insects as he explained that the birds DO peck aggressively if they feel there is a good source of food. I do not remember the insect he mentioned - but I do remember the advice given. This is in no means intended to insult or say that you may have a insect problem....But that is the advice that was given to the couple and possibly a avenue you may want to explore.

Warm Regards,

nanc

Thanks nanc,

No offense taken at all. We have discovered that we do have a problem with bees or wasp or both in some areas of our siding, but I think this woodpecker is doing it for the noise. He rarely does it anymore, and when he does, it is the vents on top of the hose that he pecks at. Sit's on top of one and plays his music.

I would welcome him eating those stinging creatures. Now I need to find a solution to that problem ..... always something. I was told that yellow siding attracts them, and though when I ordered the color, it was called cream, it's pretty yellow. If I had kown that yellow attracts wasps, hornets, etc ...... I would have chosen differently.

Interesting about your woodpecker. Do you have a picture of it?

I am especially interested since the Red-headed woodpeckers are fairly rare and not seen a lot anymore...unlike the red-bellied, sapsuckers and pileateds and some of the others that we see at our feeders...

Hope your woodpecker finds a girlfriend soon! Good luck. t.

Will try to get a photo.

I'm not a bird expert, so possibly it's a different Woodpecker. It's large and has a red head though.

We hang suet feeders, and see them a lot.