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Above: Downy Woodpecker
Below: Flicker |
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How much wood can a woodpecker peck before a woodpecker’s pecking makes it a pest?
The answer to that tongue-twister probably depends upon whether the woodpecker is pecking on a nearby tree or the side of your house! If your house’s wood siding is a woodpecker’s object of desire, consider it fair warning and investigate immediately for a potential bug infestation.
Some species will drum on non-wood items for the reverberation they create. While the drumming on gutters, down spouts and vent covers can be a noisy nuisance, the action usually inflicts little damage.
If you have a troublesome woodpecker that needs some discouragement, here are a few techniques to consider:
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If you or someone else is around when the pecking commences, gently spray the bird with water from a garden hose. Repeat as often as it returns to the house. |
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Attach Mylar balloons to the targeted location. The movement and shininess of these balloons discourages the birds from coming back. The helium-filled balloons are especially good for two-story homes where it can be hard to reach the affected area. After the balloons deflate they can be cut into strips and attached to the damaged site. Pinwheels with reflective vanes are also effective. |
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Consider providing an alternative drumming location. Nail two boards together at one end (producing resonation) and hang securely on a nearby surface. |
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Naturalist Corner
Woodworking Woodpeckers
Nature’s Power Tools
Can you imagine pounding your head against the wall 8,000 to 10,000 times? Well, that’s the amazing number of times some researchers believe woodpeckers peck each day! Fortunately for this bird-brained species, a spongy tissue filled with air protects its intellect.
One of Ohio’s most intriguing group of birds, the woodpeckers can both fascinate and frustrate us with their compulsive pecking. They peck, drum, drill and chisel for three basic reasons: to establish territory and attract mates, extract insects, and create nesting cavities. Primarily insect eaters, woodpeckers go where the food source exists - usually woodlots featuring some dead or decaying wood. As they peck at their prey, woodpeckers also bore holes in wood that will encourage insects to take up residence, thus creating a ready food supply for their next meal. Talk about a clever bird!
To carry out their work, these birds are equipped with highly specialized accessories from top to bottom: sturdy beaks, strong neck muscles and long elastic tongues, along with stiff tails and powerful toes. Woodpeckers store their unusual split tongues inside their noses-no small feat, since some of those tongues are nearly four inches in length! The tongue is attached to the right nostril, and curled up inside the cavity until the bird spies a tasty morsel. When the magnificent tongue is unfurled, it curves up around the skull and then is shot out the mouth to capture insects. Sticky saliva and barbs on the end of their tongues help woodpeckers glean insects deep inside trees. As an example of this dexterity, consider that a single northern flicker can eat thousands of carpenter ants in one day.
Like any high quality power tool, the woodpecker comes equipped with a no-slip grip. Acting as a brace, the tail supports the woodpecker while it chisels away. And, unlike other birds that have three toes forward and one back, woodpeckers have two toes forward and two toes back, helping them grip the sides of trees.
Woodpeckers do not sing like songbirds, but they do provide the percussion for nature’s woodland symphony. Just as each songbird’s song is unique, so is every woodpecker’s peck. Rhythm, duration and even the pattern of holes distinguish one woodpecker species from the next. For instance, trees with several rows of holes drilled in a straight line often indicate the work of a yellow-bellied sapsucker.
Close to 20 species of woodpeckers live in North America, and seven of those call Ohio home: the red-headed, red-bellied, yellow-bellied sapsucker, downy, hairy, northern flicker, and the pileated. The most common and often seen in the Buckeye State is the small black and white downy woodpecker. Male and female downy woodpeckers look alike except for the spot of red on the back of the male’s head. The hairy woodpecker is very similar to the downy, but at nine inches in length, it is about 2 1/2 inches larger. True to its name, the yellow-bellied sapsucker sports a red cap and yellow belly, and as it pecks away, it actually laps the sap and consumes insects entrapped in the sweet, sticky liquid. Some woodpeckers, including the red-bellied, are known as ladderbacks because of the distinctive black-and-white bars on their backs.
In Ohio’s woodlands, woodpeckers are more often heard than seen. Such is the case with the pileated (pie-lee-ated), one of the state’s most distinctive woodpeckers and definitely its largest at 16 to 19 inches in length. Often referred to as the model for the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker, it is the only woodpecker with a crest on its head, which is a brilliant fire engine red. These shy birds prefer living among large tracts of forested land.
Our state parks are excellent places to enjoy the sights and sounds of woodworking woodpeckers. Fascinating for their structural design and beneficial to our environment for the many wood-boring insects they eat, woodpeckers are true wonders of nature.
- Laura Jones,
ODNR Office of Communications
Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Photos provided by Tim Daniel, Division of Wildlife.
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