Woodie moved in..

[phil]

I have a woodpecker that just decided to move in. I was outside my back door on the weekend and saw all these bits of Roxul all over the place and then I saw Woodie and put two and two together. he's un-insulating my house!

today yes sure enough he broke the wood lattice on my octagonal vent and got in there.

I want to let my cat in to chase him.. I have a little attic door from the living space into where he is but also I know woodie might have a pretty serious pecker so I'm not sure if he might actually hurt my cat. maybe Ill try a ghetto blaster first. If that fails then maybe I need to find an acme catalogue

The woodpecker is a neat bird. I have some birdhouses I wondered if I might convince him into one but probably he wants to choose his house.

we have woodpeckers at our summer place and they peck right through the siding and go live in the walls. They dont really reproduce so quickly so it isn't like with pigeons where they turn into flocks. the woodpeckers are pretty determined and persistent, they tend to keep other birds away. I think the crows are moving a bit further. my cat loves to hunt birds in my back yard so she won't like him there too much because I'm sure the other birds are scared of him. I saw her get into a scuffle with a crow on the roof. she still goes on the roof but the crow challenged her. the crows can be pretty aggressive but I like them. my cat can climb my aluminum ladder so I leave it up and If I open my bedroom window she can get in and out.

I dont really want to harm Woodie.. hes a neat looking grey bird and he has an unusual call that sounds like a larger bird. there are many different types of woodpeckers, a lot seem to have really cool markings. I have considered letting him be as well. How much damage could he do? the ones we have at our summer place made some holes in the walls but after that, maybe they don't really do a lot of harm.

I think if I just put 1/4 screen over my vent he will keep trying to peck his way back in somewhere else.. maybe do more damage. the longer he lives with me , well he might get sort of attached. It might be best if i just play loud crappy music and let him decide to find a new spot.. maybe that would make moving out his choice.. I know how determined they can be.

when I was growing up we had all these barn swallows , they byuild mud nests all over around the eves and crap all over.. my dad was always fighting with them. more recently I have learned they are actually endangered and you aren't supposed to bother them. when I was a kid there were so many they would fill the phone line to the point where more couldn't land until another took off and they eat a lot of mosquitos. Not sure about how rare Woodie is but Id much rather not harm him. Maybe if I put my birdhouse up he might find it and like it. I have a telephone poll that doesn't do anything, it was just for the clothesline but must be as old as my house. maybe I could put a birdhouses there? I think the style of birdhouse and the size of the hole might need to be right for certain types of birds.
I do have access to the inside of the vent so I wonder if a live trap of some sort could be used, but then if I catch and release him, maybe he'd just fly back if I dont take him far enough.

[Manalto]

You could play loud good music, unless you already know Woody's taste.

[Gothichome]

Any of the pop music from the last ten years should discourage the bird.

[GinaC]

Any of the pop music from the last ten years should discourage the bird.

Ain't that the truth!

[phil]

I let my kitty in there. she went right to the vent break, she could probably smell it was there, but then didn't seem enthused about the area so I dont think it's actually in there, hard to tell. I need to remove my kitchen chair collection to get myself in there and repair the vent. I put the traffic report on, lots of talking. maybe its an excuse to pull everything out and vacuum after my roofing shook all the dust down. I have one of those deer cams that take pictures when they see motion. I should set it up near the vent so I can get pics of the perp.
I just thought about it and my girlfriend has a big fluffy cat that leaves hairballs all over. maybe if I stuff some balls of kitty fur in the vent gaps then the bird will have to pull it out and maybe that would be a deterrent for woody to think it's safe in there. I know if I only block the vent then he will poke through again. by nature they can be very determined. I need to make him rethink the idea that it's a safe place to raise kids, , then he (or she? ) might give up and poke holes in some other house.

[GinaC]

Actually, Phil, I have heard of that working before, but with dog hair. A friend had an Irish Wolfhound and collected some hair and put it where the birds could get to it, and they left.

[Manalto]

Rubber snake?

[phil]

I think ill try the cat fur idea. If it works we have the same issue with woodpeckers at our summer place. its more of a problem there because sometimes we are not there enough to monitor it. the house has cedar siding and they popped 1 inch holes all over. my nephew tried making a birdhouse and put that over the hole but i think they just picked a different spot. not sure about snakes. we dont have poisonous snakes' at least not deadly ones here.. My kitty is sensitive to anything that resembles one.. she will paw it cautiously and jump back.. funny to watch.
the other day I was having a little fun with her.. I have one of those swiffers with a pad and a squirter. it was lying o the floor.. I bumped it with my foot and noticed was playing with the business end of it.. pawing it then jumping back.. so I kept kicking it just a bit to keep her interested. she was so interested in the action.. . Next I put my toe on the squirt button.. she jumped back in complete surprise. like it came alive... sprayed beside her as the motor made its noise...It was funny to see how she reacted. she likes it when I mess with her.

a weird thing happened last year. every day I came home I could see little sticks on my front steps. It puzzled me where they were coming from. eventually I realized it was the crows. they were taking little twigs up to the corner brackets near the roof..then they would sit there and I think they were breaking little pieces off for nest building. they dropped the remnants on my front steps then kept going to the trees for more of them. I figured they don't want to take big sticks with branches into their nests so instead they trim them the way they want then fly to the nest.. they live across the street way up high in a fir tree.

[Manalto]

Plastic hawk?

[DRJR]

Plastic hawk will work. So will a plastic owl. Shiny tassels work well.

Other things that work. Loud noises, and shot guns. The neighbors might not appreciate this part.