My brother-in-law (not the title character in this entry) just bought himself a fantastic digital SLR camera, and has been merrily snapping away. He stayed with us this past weekend, and after a light snowfall got this shot of a visitor in our driveway:
It’s definitely a woodpecker, and he caught it just as it was taking flight. Thing is, it matches the pictures we looked up of a Gilded Flicker, but a guidebook I found says they only live in the desert. What was he doing in Boulder?
I’ll tell you what he was doing. He was eyeballing the siding of my house, sizing it up for a vicious pecking. We’ve been woken up a half dozen times at 6:00 a.m. by woodpeckers attacking the house. When we first moved here, I noticed a lot of houses had plastic owls hanging up, or drawings that looked like faces two feet across hanging over the neighbors’ eaves. I recognized them as being woodpecker scarer-offers, and had second thoughts about living here.
I love Boulder, I really do. But I will eat the next frakkin’ bird that wakes me up that early. I’ve taken to keeping tennis balls outside the door to the back yard so I can throw them near (not at) the bird to scare it off. It works, but he’s always back the next day.
Pain in the butt bird. Sure is pretty though.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:43 am
I guess you should try throwing the balls at, not near, the birds. Maybe after you hit them they won’t come back.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Plastic owls or hawks would do the trick nicely.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
Or, as a more friendly alternative, you can put up feeders designed for woodpeckers. That way you can have them around without having them assault the house. Great decoy. My Google-fu has provided for you the following example:
http://www.birdsforever.com/woodyfeeders.html
Good luck, Mr. Plait! (With the skeptics show I mean. I want to see it.)
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:47 am
Plastic owls may not be as effective as a laser security system that, when a woodpecker is detected, unleashes a hail of gunfire.
I love animals.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:48 am
We had a similar issue at our house about six months after moving in. It was hard has heck to spot - he’d take off as soon as he heard noise in the house! We wound up taking one of my old lattice belts (my wife won’t let me wear them anymore, saying they are like 15 years out of style. She won’t listen why I tell her that us geeks don’t have style), and curled it up on the roof to mimic a snake. It seems to have worked. We stopped getting woken up at the crack on dawn on Saturdays, despite the fact that he still frequented some older, nearby trees.
The belt has been gone for a year now, since we got the roof replaced. Turned out there were ants and we got it treated. Of course, I’m still wondering wait the laborers replacing the roof must have thought about finding a belt up there…
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:49 am
That’s a Northern Flicker. We have them here in Northwest Indiana too.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Flicker.html
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:52 am
@QuasarTimes
“I love animals.”
Have you ever heard of Tim Bedore. During the brief time that we had the Bob and Tom show here in Atlanta, he did a “Vague but True” piece called “The other animals are against us”. Quite funny. Anyone wanting to hear it can find it on his website: http://www.vaguebuttrue.com/genius.htm
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:54 am
“Woodpecker scarer-offers”
Now that’s funny!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:07 am
The bird you’re looking at is a Red-shafted Flicker, as opposed to Yellow-shafted. But I guess they are all Northern Flickers as Dayna writes.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 am
Ah, spring. We have had a Northern flicker doing the same by tapping out territory sounds on our metal kitchen chimney in Vancouver at the crack of dawn every few days for a couple of weeks now.
My friend made a good suggestion: at the sound, light a rolled-up newspaper under the kitchen hood and smoke the bird away. It seems to be coming less frequently, and leaves as soon as the smoke goes up. Here’s my post on the topic…
http://www.penmachine.com/2008/03/pecker
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:12 am
Three words: Motion Activated Sprinkler
http://www.amazon.com/Contech-Electronics-Scarecrow-Motion-Activated-CRO101/dp/B000071NUS
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:15 am
That sounded dirty.
I had a bird problem with crows/ravens (not sure which) around my house for a while. I just resorted to firing my paintball gun (empty mind you) every time I saw them congregating in the Live Oak in my front yard. After a few treatments they left my house, my driveway, my car’s paintjob and the song bird feeders in my back yard alone.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 am
> […] But I will eat the next frakkin’ bird […]
You talk tough, Phil, but we all know you’re a marshmallow and couldn’t hurt a bird if you tried.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:20 am
you could get one of these to keep the birds away:
http://www.ga-asi.com/products/pdf/Sky_Warrior.pdf
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:21 am
Okay, Dayna and Derek K. Miller have collectively made the exact post I was going to make. Except our flicker drums on the metal cap of our living-room chimney. And I don’t live in Indiana. Let me just add a quote from Wikipedia’s article about the Gilded Flicker:
“Golden yellow underwings distinguish the Gilded Flicker from the Northern Flicker found within the same region, which have red underwings.”
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:23 am
I am *so* turning you in to PETA.
No, not really. I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 am
We have them here in Baltimore! Very pretty, large bird. They feed on the ground in our back yard and don’t visit our bird feeders.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 am
Here’s the real solution:
http://mfrost.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/30/cup_of_cat.jpg
One heaping, large cup of cat!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 am
I think the bird feeder is a great idea. They are a lot easier to pick-off with a BB gun when they are busy eating. (I kid!)
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 am
I doubt a bird feeder would do much — this being spring, your little friend is likely just making noise to establish his territory for the summer (rather than drilling for bugs).
At least at our place, the resident woodpeckers wouldn’t leave the house alone until we replaced the siding. The old stuff (plywood, basically) made a great soundboard and was easy to grip. The new siding is vinyl coated steel — I’m sure a woodpecker would love to hammer on it, but they can’t get a foothold.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:53 am
QD, that’s funny! Ready to be poured into the blender…
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 am
How much wood could a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker could peck wood?
Oh, wrong animal. I like the laser gun idea.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:57 am
We have lots of flickers in our neighborhood in Denver. They are handsome and noisy, but not very bright, sort of like one of my brothers-in-law. We also have a resident pair of merlins (”pigeon hawk”) which help keep the flickers under control. Last spring I watched a merlin take a big flicker on the ground in my yard, dispatch it neatly and fly off carrying the larger bird to a less public place to feed. Natural falconry without the human interference.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
The first couple of years in our current house there was a woodpecker who kept at a hole up in one corner by our boys’ bedroom. The kids named him “Wilbird” and would come yelling every spring “Willbird’s back! Help!” We kept trying to get rid of him and his annual offspring who wound up living in our walls. Finally one year they started pecking their way through the drywall into the kids’ bedroom. We got rid of them at that point with no mercy (don’t worry, as far as we know all the little birdies survived, but we’ve put up metal sheeting, screening, and a mylar balloon to keep them out).
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:00 am
It’s mating season and the flicker is probably drumming on your house, because he likes the way the echo amplifies his advertisement: “My territory!” A good solution (much better than golf balls!) is to find where he’s drumming and stretch a wash rag over the area. Muffling his sound is contrary to his purpose and he’ll probably go away.
Another trick is to put a couple of balloons around the area for a few days. The movement will scare the flicker off.
Best of luck!
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 am
The red mustache indicates this is a Northern flicker (red shafted variety). It is common in the Western states, but it is not limited to the desert.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 am
We have a woodpecker that likes to occasionally peck on the metal housing of our fireplace chimney. Nothing like a loud metallic rapid BR-BR-BR-BR-BR-BR-BR in the morning or afternoon or mid-day or late morning or lunchtime.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 am
I heard that the fake owl stuff do scare the birds off… temporarily. You know, birds are no douches, they tend to notice SOMEDAY that it’s fake.
…So I suggest motion controlled techniques. That’d be an hilarious youtube video.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
QD, that’s funny! Ready to be poured into the blender…
Hey! I like cats. It’s a sign of maturity and civilization.
Think about it.
1. Cats are are very careful and really look at a situation before acting. They investigate everything. Slavish devotion isn’t in their nature.
2. Dogs will devote themselves to just about anyone in exchange for a few pats on the head and a meal. Slavish devotion *is* their nature. They bark at shadows.
Cats are nature’s skeptics.
Dogs are nature’s religious.
I believe these two images will illustrate the point:
http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/skeptical-cat-is-fraught-with-skepticism.jpg
http://www.christianshirts.net/images/designs/large/dawg350.jpg
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:18 am
A woodpecker? Pecking wood? Has the world gone totally insane?
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
Knowing woodpeckers do that here to sound out their territory each spring (yellow bellied sapsuckers and pileated woodpeckers are FAR worse then flickers though we have all of these and many others as well) we built using cement board siding. Looks like cedar. Humans and woodpeckers can’t tell the difference. One or two whacks resulting in a bruised bill and they never return. Our neighbors with wood siding have all sorts of damage from them (owls and snakes don’t work for long, here anyway). They can’t hurt the cement but it sure hurts them. Now if those dang sapsuckers would just stop banging away on my neighbor’s gutters I could get some sleep after 5 a.m.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
It’s a northern flicker, and if you want to see it really get excited, put up a big mirror.
I used to work in an office that faced into a small wooded area. A norther flicker used to have a great time fighting his reflection in the glass.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 am
As a side note, if you get woodpeckers thumping your siding, it means your siding is bug-infested. You should consider it a warning of “siding replacement headache coming soon”.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Beautiful plumage!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
Are you saying it’s pining for the fjords?
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Everybody is going “don’t harm the bird!!”, but, from a purely biological point of vue, isn’t a mammal supposed to do whatever it takes to defend his nest/den/warren/home?
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 am
A pump action water pistol is the thing for harmlessly frightening off birds - its very good on cats too. Dogs tend to do that snappy drinking thing to them. The most damage they do is to get the animal wet, but some animals really don’t like getting wet!
Mwah ha ha ha!
If you live in the States, do buy the most luminous coloured one possible. You might hear the words “put the gun down, you are surrounded”, but you might just hear a *bang* and a sudden pain before blacking out.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
Nice coincidence… last night I watched Hitchcock’s “The Birds” on TCM.
Are you sure your neighborhood isn’t called Bodega Bay?
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:23 am
I would definitely get a pest inspector out there immediately.
IANAO (I am not an Ornithologist) but if it were my house I would worry he was drilling for lunch first…
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 am
Thanks BA. You just helped me identify the bird I saw just two days ago. I saw this gorgeous gray woodpecker with a red ‘V’ on the back of its neck. I was just about to snap a picture of it when my dogs got anxious to go out and scared the fellow away. Now I know that I have a northern flicker friend nearby.
We had a woodpecker problem for a while before we replaced the decaying plywood with vinyl boards. Thankfully we didn’t have insects in the plywood, but the woodpecker sure liked it anyway.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:49 am
I feel your pain. The mockingbird in the tree next to our bedroom has learned an excellent imitation of our neighbor’s car alarm.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:50 am
BA, I am disappointed in you. The bird is looking for food and you want more sleep! Make an attempt to live with nature, try removing the food source that must be present. Carefully remove your siding and collect the creatures that are attracting you guest. Transport these wonders of nature to a safe place. Try one of the many local national parks, well away from humans bent on despoiling mother earth!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
Do you have Carpenter Bees? Apparently they like to dig around for them in wood. (eating them)
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
>>”Plastic owls may not be as effective as a laser security system that, when a woodpecker is detected, unleashes a hail of gunfire.”
Hey, so that’s why it’s been so long since I’ve seen a kid on a bike delivering newspapers.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I’ve got a bird who is continually pecking at my bedroom window. I think that it sees the reflection of a tree from a neighbor’s yard and wants to go roost on it. I thought about buying a cat or owl figure and placing it outside the window.
My other wild critter problem is a squirrel who must really, really hate cherry blossoms because its always up in my tree gnawing them off. My lawn is littered with these things now. Maybe I need an eagle or some raptor-like figure to scare that m*****f***** off. I about ready to camp out in my backyard with a BB gun. I want my cherries, dagnab it!
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Everybody is going “don’t harm the bird!!”
Not everyone. I suggested bringing a cat into the picture.
Preferably an armed one.
http://www.funnypart.com/pictures/FunnyPart-com-kitty_sniper.jpg
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
He’s not looking for food; he’s engaging in territorial/mate-attracting behavior, as Kerri and some others pointed out. Do what you can to discourage him (within reason, of course), but if it doesn’t work, take comfort in the knowledge that this behavior won’t last. Soon he’ll find a female flicker to have his babies and he’ll have too many family responsibilities to worry about drumming on your house. Here in Denver, we had one drumming on our drainpipe a while back, but he’s stopped, and I saw him in the yard this morning with a nice-looking female flicker (the females look similar, but without the red mustache).
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Cats and dogs.
In my experience, having lived with many of each, there is one fundamental difference.
With dogs, you are family; with cats you are staff.
As far as the flicker/woodpecker/crow problems go–I have had some success (and lots of fun) with a super soaker-type high-pressure squirt gun. A good high pressure nozzle, with trigger, for the garden hose probably works better, but then you have to drag the hose around.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
–Sir Winston Churchill
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Ah! Now you’re in my range of knowledge! I work for a wildlife center and have to answer questions like this all the time.
Those who say he’s making noise to mark territory are right, especially if he’s doing a rapid drumming rather than sporadic sounds. That’s a territorial call to woodpeckers, though the pattern differs among species.
There are a couple of options. One is, eliminate the area of your house that makes great sounding. A layer of styrofoam will work, softer wood, etc.
The other option is to give him something else that makes better noise. Two short boards (half a meter or so) stacked together and attached only at one end, then hung in a tree a short distance away, may work. The idea is the unattached ends of the wood clatter together nicely under the pecking. Convincing the woodpecker to use this might be difficult, but a suet feeder nearby might do the trick.
Chances are the behavior will stop shortly as nesting season gets into full swing. Then it’ll return next year
Forget about the idea of wood grub infestation - he’s probably not looking for food. You wouldn’t have wood grubs unless your siding was about to fall off. Also forget about the fake owls and snakes - they virtually never work. Birds have a better range of eyesight than we do, and rarely buy the idea of plastic predators. Especially ones that never move.
What does sometimes work is mylar streamers, simply because their movement and flashing colors convinces the bird it’s not a good place to land. Don’t use loops, since the bird can get entangled - just hang straight strips.
Good luck!
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Whatever the source of this poor creatures behavior, the criminal actions expressed by some must not be condoned. The humans have moved into the creature’s habitat and must learn to live with minor interruptions to their (for some, very self-centered) lives. I believe PETA would be very interested in the cruel and harmful actions expressed by some of BA’s readers.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
A word about plastic owls and snakes:
Birds aren’t all that stupid, and if you don’t move these things around, they’ll know they aren’t real. Sometimes they will even if you *do* move them around. And I’ve seen birds perched atop plastic owls.
Municipalities tend to frown on remedial action on feathered fiends, and states usually protect non-game species. This limits your options. So does things like aesthetics - I doubt you want to apply hardware cloth like utilities use to your house. Objects that flap in the wind, like old paper sacks, strips of pie pans strung on wire, etc., tend to spook birds but also annoys neighbors and looks really tacky. Fake eyes you’ve seen already.
Let’s see . . . Boulder . . . That should be in Mockingbird territory. If you encourage Mockingbirds to take up residence, you’ll have your very own air patrol, dedicated to maintaining air superiority over your yard. The downside is that unless they accept your family, they’ll do dive-attacks on any humans, including children, who enter your yard. And even if they do accept your family, they may not accept pets, especially cats. You can also forget having songbirds nest in your yard. But the mockingbirds will gang up and fight woodpeckers - and anything else that flies.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I used a bow and arrow on the flickers attacking our house. I blunted an arrow with a piece of wood, reinforced with 16Ga. wire to avoid splitting on impact. I shot two, each time causing the bird to fly away amid a puff of newly-freed feathers and (I hoped) a new lesson learned. The third wasn’t so lucky; the impact must have broken its neck.
The real tragedy is that they seem to have learned from the experience, but taken the wrong lesson, darn them. Now they fly away when they see me look up and move my bow.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Everyone is talking about the bird, feeding (or not feeding) the bird, cats, dogs, your reaction, blah, blah, blah.
Me - I want to complement your brother on his photographic skills! That is some picture and to get it with a branny-new camera is no mean feat.
I have been trying to get my photo skills back to where they were 30 years ago using a Canon 20D I have had almost two years - and I don’t think I could have pulled this off as nicely - if at all. Goodness knows I try.
I had a HUGE Pileated in my front yard a few weeks ago. The photo of it is uniformly miserable. You can almost tell it is a bird.
JC
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Well you made the bird a celebrity, he was going to do what every good celebrity does. Going around knocking up things he shouldn’t
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Welcome to Boulder, Phil. That’s a flicker. They’re quite common around here. They’re not really woodpeckers. Mostly they eat ants and other small bugs off the ground. They attack your stove pipe or a tree to make noise when showing off to potential mates.
Donna
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Quiet_Desperation:
Anyone have a picture of Ben Stein in a fur coat?
Marc:
Just remember — it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I believe PETA would be very interested in the cruel and harmful actions expressed by some of BA’s readers.
Nobody takes PETA seriously. They’re a bad joke who whore themselves for the media.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
“But I will eat the next frakkin’ bird that wakes me up that early.”
Mmmmmmmmmm….. frakkin’ bird
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
# Leon on 02 Apr 2008 at 1:16 pm
I used a bow and arrow on the flickers attacking our house. I blunted an arrow with a piece of wood, reinforced with 16Ga. wire to avoid splitting on impact. I shot two, each time causing the bird to fly away amid a puff of newly-freed feathers and (I hoped) a new lesson learned. The third wasn’t so lucky; the impact must have broken its neck.
The real tragedy is that they seem to have learned from the experience, but taken the wrong lesson, darn them. Now they fly away when they see me look up and move my bow.
Leon,
A quick search on the internet would have given you a bunch of humane options that work much better than shooting birds with bows and blunted arrows. Serves you right if the birds fly a way when they see you coming.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
At the time I posted this:
Black Holes and Forming Planets - 8 responses so far.
A Beautiful But Annoying Visitor - 61 responses so far (counting mine).
Does anyone still come here for the astronomy?
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Astronomy? Make that “gastronomy” since Phil seems to need a flicker recipe.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
You could always get a taser. One of the new ones that come complete with an mp3 player.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Hey Phil,
Over here in Ireland we’ve got a way of dealing with Crows. Never fails!
Should work for woodpeckers too:
http://www.flickdrop.com/files/photos/d35b05a832e2bb9L.jpg
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Try an airsoft gun. I won’t hurt it seriously, but it will definitely make it think twice about claiming your hood as its own.
“I believe PETA would be very interested in the cruel and harmful actions expressed by some of BA’s readers.”
Let them know and send them my way, I could use a little target practice.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
As some other commenters pointed out that looks like a northern flicker, Colaptes auratus, of the western or “red-shafted” race. The habitat is a non-issue because these are widespread birds. It used to be thought of as a separate species from the eastern yellow-shafted birds but they are now lumped into one species.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:42 pm
QuasarTimes said: “Plastic owls may not be as effective as a laser security system that, when a woodpecker is detected, unleashes a hail of gunfire.”
Haha. Now, that was funny. Funnier if it was an ivory billed woodpecker. Kidding, just kidding, but they do taste good.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
PETA are single issue anti-human fanatics. I love animals. They have just as much “right” to be wherever we are as we do. I will go out of my way to see certain animals in their natural habitat. Hopefully not disturbing them in such a way that it impacts on their lifestyle. One of the two best animal encounters I ever had was in Rwanda when a baby mountain gorilla reached out and touched me as he ambled past (I kept the minimum 5 metres away from the gorillas rule but they don’t have to abide by the rules). He stopped, looked up at me, reached out and touched my leg and then wandered off. Sooo cool.
But PETA? Hmmph. No eating, touching, keeping, living or sleeping* with any animal ever. Period.
I do like it though when PETA get a celebrity to drop their togs for an anti-fur protest.
*Cue Simpsons quote:
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Whatever the source of this poor creatures behavior, the criminal actions expressed by some must not be condoned.
Criminal? CRIMINAL? Are you sniffing ether?
Here’s a crime scene photo.
http://www.blork.org/blog/imyjiz3/dead-bird.jpg
The humans have moved into the creature’s habitat and must learn to live with minor interruptions to their (for some, very self-centered) lives.
And for others, self-righteous.
http://www.jonathanrowny.com/uploaded_images/luckykiller-799331.jpg
I believe PETA would be very interested in the cruel and harmful actions expressed by some of BA’s readers.
A ha ha ha ha ha! Oh NOES! He am goings to call the PETA Force! The jig is up, Phil! Run away! They’re going to invoke the Peeptriot Act!
Here’s another solution, BTW.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4788/pheasanttx0.jpg
Might be a bit of overkill.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Based only on Phil’s photo of the bird, it looks to me that it could be a Northern Flicker, which birds do inhabit Colorado. According to the Wikipedia, “Golden yellow underwings distinguish the Gilded Flicker from the Northern Flicker found within the same region, which have red underwings. ” I see mostly red in the picture, though I can’t be sure I am seeing _under_wings. (The habitat of the Northern Flicker is much larger than that of the Gilded Flicker.)
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 am
Sure it’s not PZ with an auto-loading BB gun? I hear he’s been traveling.
I hear that hanging strips of aluminum foil can keep them away. If you try all of these ideas, you will never get anything done, let alone any sleep!
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:53 am
Yep, Northern Flicker alright. They can tap loudly, but the ones ’round here (NorCal, near SSU) usually eat off the ground. At least I never suffered property damage due to them.
He’s very pretty, btw.
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:32 am
What you need is Woodpecker Pro Only $250 plus shipping and extension cords. It will probably keep you awake as well! Money back guarantee!
http://satisfactionguaranteed-1st.netfirms.com/woodpecker_pro.htm
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:30 am
@JB: Black Holes and Forming Planets - 8 responses so far.
A Beautiful But Annoying Visitor - 61 responses so far (counting mine).
Does anyone still come here for the astronomy?
Not everyone feels equipped to comment on the astronomy posts. Phil explains well and they don’t need responses. But lots of people have annoying-bird stories and homeowner stories and advice.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 am
A very pretty bird. Great picture. We have woodpeckers in my neighborhood but they are not nearly as pretty or big. They are very loud when they attack my aluminum gutters. Sounds like a machine gun or sawz-all going off early in the morning.
A pretty as any animal is, its MY territory now. If they cannot co-exist with me (the dominant home owner) then the animal has the problem. I’d prefer a non-lethal solution first but if it comes to it, they will get bumped off. Luckily for me (maybe not the woodpeckers, or the rabbits, or the chipmunks, or the mice) a couple of very large hawks have moved into the area and I have noticed, maybe by coincidence, that the number of woodpecker incidents has gone way down.
Now that my dog is no longer a puppy and much to big to be threatened by the (very large) hawks, I am very pro-hawk.
So, my advice, Phil, is to get yourself a few hawks and let them loose.
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:18 am
Everybody is going “don’t harm the bird!!”
Not everyone. I suggested bringing a cat into the picture.
You should have been around my house when I had an African Grey Parrot. It attacked the cat, not the other way around. The cat (and the Labrador Retriever) were terrified of that bird, and the bird knew it and loved that fact. As a matter of fact, it would call the cat in my then-wife’s voice, which it could do perfectly, and the dumb-ace cat would come running, thinking it was time to wallow in the ex’s lap and get petted. Nope, it was time for an aerial assault.
The dog, which was a great dog but would never have to worry about a canine Nobel Prize was even more of a sucker. The bird would imitate me saying “where’s the ball?” and send the poor rascal into a tizzy. Labs are made for carrying around something and the parrot would taunt it constantly. And the dog would run from it.
The worst was when we let one of my friends feed it for a week when we went on a trip. He thought it would be funny to play the bird an adult video every day when he came over. Naturally the parrot learned some pretty salty sounds and would happily chirp them out at times like when my parents visited. It was funny the first time. Not so much the 50th.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Trivia: I believe it’s the only woodpecker type bird that feeds off the ground.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
This reminds me of The GDP in the Garrett, P.I. series of fantasy-detective novels by Glen Cook. This parrot has a very ripe vocabulary, and is particularly good at mimicking children being assaulted. Garrett, who was given the parrot as a gift/joke by one of his best friends, is constantly trying to get the bird to STFU least he be accused of committing the acts the parrot is mimicking. (Garrett is a good guy and is not a parrot or child molester; he’s their rescuer.) Like Phil, he won’t/cannot actually kill the bird; doing so would seriously offend his friend. Nonetheless, Garrett has “threatened” to eat GDP (I wonder if he could supply Phil with a receipe?). It’s all a rather amusing side-story-line in the novels.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
phil, my backyard is three-sides wooden fence. the flickers are too occupied with the copious bugs-n-grubs hiding there to be attracted to anything else in the property. many books consider colorado to be technically a desert, as most states in the west (semi-arid). boulder is also a flyway for many that do not home in the region
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
One rule I’ve tried to live by, which in this case can be used literally rather than metaphorically, is:
“If the bird and the bird book disagree, trust the bird.”
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Most of you are treating the symptom, not the cause!
Let me loudly repeat what I think only 2 people here said: THE BIRD IS THERE BECAUSE THERE IS FOOD! THIS MEANTS ANTS OR BEES OR SOMETHING SIMILAR!
No reason for all the fancy stuff - you need to have the wood in the house checked first, get rid of the ants/bees/whatever, then the birdie goes somewhere else for breakfast.
No more nice pictures then, though
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Oops, sent before proofread, sorry. “This means…” of course
…Dorfl2 goes and eats some ants
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
haha!
that’s too funny phil…
Maybe it’s a sign…. if other things of nature start to plague your house, i’d begin to worry—
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
It may be worth thinking about aquiring a dog!
My dog Sirius - a staffy-cross - goes absolutely wild at, races after and barks at visiting magpies which are fairly large-ish Australian birds.
She usually manages to chase them off but I have seen them sitting on the roof & on top of the hills hoist clothesline teasing her too on occassion …
Charles - “What a great parrot & set of pets - classic LOL!”
Wrote # blf on 03 Apr 2008 at 12:14 pm
Charles : “[T]he parrot learned some pretty salty sounds and would happily chirp them out at times like when my parents visited.
This reminds me of The GDP in the Garrett, P.I. series of fantasy-detective novels by Glen Cook. This parrot has a very ripe vocabulary, and is particularly good at mimicking children being assaulted. Garrett, who was given the parrot as a gift/joke by one of his best friends, is constantly trying to get the bird to STFU least he be accused of committing the acts the parrot is mimicking. (Garrett is a good guy and is not a parrot or child molester; he’s their rescuer.) Like Phil, he won’t/cannot actually kill the bird; doing so would seriously offend his friend. Nonetheless, Garrett has “threatened” to eat GDP ..”
Hmm.. I’d suggest getting a recoring of a parrot in mortal distress or fear from somewhere (squawk of a parrot being strangled?) and play it every time it makes an “inappropriate remark.” After a while it amy get the hint …
Come to think of it that distress call idea may work for Phil too. Good photo too THX.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Ha! Territorial peckings.
I once went fishing in a nice, quiet, remote area - a park. It was peaceful, until I starting hearing this loud, really annoying metallic banging noise that just wouldn’t quit.
Upon investigation, I found a woodpecker was hammering on a metal park sign. The sign was on a hollow post with a hole in it, and for some reason it was resonating perfectly, magnifying the bird’s peckings. I’m sure his territory was like a mile wide and he got all the best grubs.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Astro-related
Didn’t the folks at KSC have a problem with woodpeckers and the Space Shuttle external tank? Perhaps you could adapt their solution (as long as it doesn’t involve blasting your house into space (which you might enjoy, come to think of it)).
You could always try the homeopathic approach: get the generic equivalent of a homeopathic solution (distilled water) and sprinkle it on the woodpecker when it comes around. Guaranteed to drive it away.
April 5th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Of course, I meant to write *recording* not ‘recoring’ in this para :
Hmm.. I’d suggest getting a recoring of a parrot in mortal distress or fear from somewhere (squawk of a parrot being strangled?) and play it every time it makes an “inappropriate remark.” After a while it amy get the hint …
@!!!%&^$###!!@ Typos!!
Please Phil can we get an editing or preview capability here …Plesae?
Also is there a spot here that tells us how to get things in bold, quote blocks, italics, underline & all the things that some people here seem able to do butnot others like ..er ..me?
Having those two suggestions adopted would really help make this superb blog /comments discussion thread thingammy even superb-er!
Please Phil Dr BA sir, please!
April 5th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
& ‘amy’ should be ‘may’ there too … Always more typos… SIGH.