Most everyone likes woodpeckers. There are many species commonly found throughout North America including the flicker, gila, acorn, downy, hairy, redheaded, green, black backed, ivory billed, sap sucker and pileated. When in the wild, the site of a woodpecker pecking away at a tree is generally an acceptable behavior. But sometimes this pecking can be offensive; often times damaging. Note the accumulated damage to this tree caused by one persistent woodpecker.
WHY DO WOODPECKERS PECK WOOD?
In most cases, the woodpeckers have found the targeted wood because there is some kind of food supply living inside. Typical insects that will nest in trees or house siding include carpenter bees, wasps, boxelder bugs, house borers and ladybugs.
Though having the woodpecker feed will help reduce the problem insect, in most cases the damage sustained from the pecking can lead to many other costly repairs thus making the behavior unacceptable. If you’ve got one of the above listed insects living on or in your home, be sure to treat to help reduce their numbers. In many cases this will cause the damaging woodpecker to move away. In cases where you are unsure what the woodpecker is feeding on or if it’s even feeding at all, try one of the following repellents.
WHAT PROBLEMS DO WOODPECKERS CAUSE?
Woodpeckers will also peck on anything which will generate loud “sounds”. They will typically find metal edging, hollow backed siding, soffits and even windows to use for this mating ritual. Most commonly done in the spring, woodpeckers will repeatedly beat their pecks against anything which makes a loud noise as they try to establish themselves as a dominant bird in a given territory and get a mate.
Woodpeckers will also peck for food and lastly, they’ll peck to build nests.
WOODPECKER REPELLENT AND TREATMENTS
The ways to repel woodpeckers vary and its best to first determine why the woodpecker is focused on your structure. As stated above, they will generally come to a structure for food, nesting or to mark territory.
BEST SPRAY TO KILL WOODPECKER FOOD
If woodpeckers are randomly pecking on the side of your home foraging for food, killing the active pest will usually get rid of them.
A great spray for this is MAXXTHOR EC. It will kill anything living in the siding AND the birds don’t like it. Maxxthor will irritate them so it effective takes away their food supply AND repels them.
What makes Maxxthor EC so effective is unlike most concentrates these days, Maxxthor is oil based. This allows for deep penetration where insects like to hide. And the oil base stands up to weather better so insects will not want to be on any treated area and in turn, will stay away. This will cause insect chasing Woodpeckers to go elsewhere.
Add 2.5 oz of Maxxthor to our 6 GALLON HOSE END SPRAYER and then some water so its filled up to the 5 gallon line. Next hook it to your garden hose and spray down all parts of the home their targeting. Plan on spraying every 2-4 weeks in early spring for at least 2 treatments.
The best way to apply the Maxxthor is with our 6 GALLON HOSE END SPRAYER. This one allows you to remove the nozzle. This way it will spray a straight line that can reach up quite high, basically as far as your garden hose can spray.
WOODPECKER SPRAY REPELLENT
If the woodpeckers are randomly pecking to make noise and not feeding, use our PEST AWAY.
Its all natural made from essential oils and due to how concentrated it is, the treatment will make the wood seem odd to the birds so they’ll avoid it.
Add 2 oz to a gallon of water and spray over 500 sq/ft. Use this every 4 weeks when woodpeckers are active and followup treatments as needed.
Apply the Pest Away with any PUMP SPRAYER or the 6 Gallon Hose End above by adding 4 oz to the sprayer and filling it with water if you need to use 5-6 gallons of finished spray. For small jobs where you don’t need a lot of mixture or have to reach high spots, our Pump Sprayer can reach up to 20 feet.
VISUAL WOODPECKER REPELLENTS
For a more permanent solution, install our BIRD FLASHER to the side of you home. Use one per 1000 sq/ft. They’re easy to mount and as long as the birds can see it where they’re landing, they will avoid the area.
Use a nail or screw to attach it to the home. When the air around it moves light will create an optical illusion birds cannot handle. Flat and weatherproof, the bird flasher is perceived by woodpeckers as a threat and causes their natural “fright-flight” response to kick in.
In most cases this will cause them to move away and forage elsewhere.
BEST WOODPECKER VISUAL CHASER
Overall, the best visual bird chaser is our SCARE SPIDERS. Birds are naturally afraid of spiders and will avoid them at all costs.
Scare Spiders are rain/sun proof and feature “wire” legs made to bend for secure placements. Just “wrap” the leg around any part of the house you can grab like deck rails, support columns, the hinges on shutters and even roof gutters.
Scare Spiders are available in small, medium and large. The small has a 12″ tip to tip leg span and is well suited for protecting 1-2 windows or an area 100-200 sq/ft.
The medium and large spider will work in the same small area but are better suited for protecting the entire side or roof of the average home.
Scare Spiders come with a window mounting suction cup with anchor line strong enough to hold the large 4 footer in place.
Scare Spiders work immediately forcing nuisance birds to move on to another location. Leave installed for at least 2 weeks so the offending birds learn to forage and nest elsewhere.
ULTRA SOUND WOODPECKER REPELLER
Lastly, we have an SOUND REPELLER that works very well for birds including woodpeckers. Basically it uses both ultra sound and predatory bird sounds to chase away woodpeckers. When placed in line where woodpeckers are active, you can direct the sound at the siding to keep the birds away. Results are instant and you have two options for setting them up.
The first option is for small areas. So if you have a woodpeckers targeting a piece of metal or one area of the home, position the device within 25 feet of the area you need protect. Using 4 “c” cell batteries, you can set it to “motion detection”. This setting will release a strong ultra sound deterrent woodpeckers do not like. Our unit also has an audible sound, much like a hawk, which can be controlled volume wise. If possible, keep this turned up so when the unit sounds off, it will release both ultra sound and the predatory sound. When activated, woodpeckers will immediately leave. The motion detector has an effective range up to 30 feet but the sound will be heard for 100 feet or more.
For large areas, like the whole side of you home, plan on positioning the unit on the ground pointed up at the home.Our MOUNTING BLOCKS are ideally suited for the installation.
In this scenario, running it all day long (you can set it to run during the day only, during the night only or all the time. For woodpeckers, during the day only is enough) using nothing but Ultra Sound will keep the woodpeckers away all the time.
More details on the two settings can be found here: WOODPECKER SETTINGS FOR SOUND REPELLER
This unit can cover up to 5,000 sq/ft, has a wireless remote for on/off control and is weatherproof. Considered the “best” option for woodpeckers, you will get instant control when devices are set up properly.
We also feature several accessories for our sound repeller including POWER CORD EXTENDERS (33 FEET AND 66 FEET), CIGARETTE LIGHTER POWER ADAPTER, ALLIGATOR CLIP POWER CORD and AC POWER SUPPLY REPLACEMENTS.
Woodpeckers are generally not thought of as “annoying” or “nuisance birds”. But if conditions are conducive around your home and some start to appear on the structure, they can become a problem. Woodpecker control cannot be done directly to the birds but by employing some of the products and equipment detailed above, you should be able to safely and effectively chase them off your home.
CONTACT US
Give us a call if you need further help. Our toll free is 1-800-877-7290 and we’re open Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. On Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and on Saturday, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time).
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