Back to Ask the Naturalist	The Naturalist:
	Woodpeckers Tapping on Your House

What to do if you have a woodpecker tapping noisily on your house.

Woodpeckers do not sing to proclaim their territories like most other birds of the backyard. Instead, they tap rapidly on a hollow surface that makes a loud noise. This is called "drumming" and it is used to proclaim their territory to other woodpeckers. It is very different from pecking for food or nest holes because it does not often make a hole in the drumming surface--it just makes a loud noise.

The behavior usually starts in late winter and continues into spring. Sometimes antennaes or other metal surfaces on houses make excellent drumming spots for the woodpeckers because they are loud and hollow-sounding. The best way to combat the behavior is to put something over the drumming spot that dulls the sound, like a piece of soft, foam rubber. If the spot no longer makes a loud noise when the woodpecker taps on it, it will abandon that spot and look for another, better location.

Alternatively, you can try blocking access to the drumming site by putting up chicken wire that the woodpecker cannnot get through. This is not always as effective.

The whole idea is to make the problem spot on your house no longer attractive to the woodpecker as a drumming site. Since the chief attraction of the spot is the loud noise the woodpecker can make when it pecks there, the best strategy is to elminate the woodpecker's ability to make that loud, hollow sound. Sooner or later the woodpecker will stop drumming on its own as the breeding season progresses.

If you have problems with woodpeckers actually making holes in your house as if they were looking for food or a nest site, this is a different problem and we recommend that you call Wildlife Services in Concord at 223-6832.