Wood-destroying Birds

In many parts of North America, woodpecker activity can a problem in any home with exposed wood. Woodpeckers pound for different reasons:

FOOD

The insects just mentioned and many more provide food for woodpeckers. Although they're more likely to hunt food in trees with decay, wall logs containing insects may attract woodpeckers.

TERRITORY

Like many birds and animals, woodpeckers have territories which they protect. Woodpeckers make the rounds of the boundries of their territory, sometimes two or three times a day, drumming to warn off marauders.

MATING

Like many birds, woodpeckers have a display designed to attract a mate. That's right... it's drumming! Woodpeckers sometimes feel that it's more effective to drum on metal flues when indulging in this activity.

NESTING

This is the woodpecker work that really causes the damage, and they can be very persistant once they've decided that they've found the perfect spot.

Very determined birds. Most of the walls in the side of the stucco home visible in the photo on the left looked like the photo on the right. This type of damage is the result of nesting acvitity.

A variety of bird species may take over woodpecker cavities for nesting, but few have the beak to create the damage that woodpeckers can. Providing nesting boxes of the right configuration can sometimes help prevent continuing damage.

Source for the heading photo (Pileated Woodpecker, a crow-sized woodpecker, practically the beaver of the bird world in its ability to hack through saplings in pursuit of insects.)

All photos not cited are courtesy of  Kenton Shepard