Woodpecker Issues

In addition to my rogue robin, who has migrated to someone else's window ledge thanks to the windsock, we used to have a misguided woodpecker, who pecked a large hole in the side of our house. He was very persistent and very noisy, and when I called the animal control people, they told me that there was very little they could do. It turns out that woodpeckers are endangered.

So I can truly sympathize with the residents of Rossmoor, California, who are waging war on woodpeckers. First the noisy birds filled the gutters of apartment buildings with acorns, and then they began moving in. The condo association of Rossmoor has shelled out $170,000, over the last ten years to try anything and everything to get the woodpeckers to move: shiny flashy tape, bird netting, paint additives, a real owl, a wooden owl and sonic devices, none of which worked.

Two years ago, they got a permit from the U. S Fish and Wildlife Service to bring in a sharpshooter to get rid of the birds once and for all. That seems to be working but the Audubon Society says it won't work for long. "It's bad science," says Jim Edgar of the local chapter. "If you kill them at noon, the breeding pairs will take their places at 1:00 p.m." Apparently killing woodpeckers only inspires them to create more to take their places.

In our case, hanging a stuffed owl, along with some mylar tape, seemed to do the trick. That, and the removal of a couple of dead tree limbs, which is apparently what attracted the noisy guy in the first place. Woodpeckers love dead wood, so if you have one you probably have a dead tree somewhere that is too good for him to avoid.

One thing I can tell you is that cute and cuddly cartoons, a la Woody Woodpecker they are not!