Before moving ahead to find ways and methods regarding how to get rid of woodpeckers, we need to understand the reason for their hammering. There are multiple reasons why woodpeckers choose to sit and start with their digging or hammering. Additionally, woodpeckers can be visiting your house area to feed on insects that are present in the deep holes in some trees.
Besides that, they might be visiting to create that drumming sound that helps them mark their territory and establish power. This certainly helps them attract a mate. Other common reasons include these birds digging holes to create a nest in the cavity or to store food.
How to keep Woodpeckers away from your House?
Given below are some pointers which can help one get rid of woodpeckers:
How to Scare Off Woodpeckers?
The best way to get rid of these birds can be to make them go away on their own rather than harming them. Also, igniting fear in them could prove to be a very effective technique to scare them. Some of the most widely used techniques for scaring a woodpecker are:
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- Using a helium balloon
- Opting for Aluminium foil
- Using pinwheels to get rid of pileated birds
- Use windsocks to drive away woodpeckers.
Getting rid of Woodpeckers without Killing them: Easy Ways
Killing a woodpecker that has been annoying you isn’t a good thing. Instead, it would be a good practice to just drive it away through some distractions or smart techniques.
Everyone has a fair amount of environmental awareness and knowledge about the contribution of woodpeckers to the ecosystem. So, we must resort to methods to get rid of woodpeckers instead of killing them. Here are these methods:
- Remove the food source: As mentioned in the list of reasons, as to why a woodpecker might be hovering around your house, one of the primary reasons that we came across was, it might be storing food in a cavity. So accordingly, removing that stored food or maybe closing that cavity would be a great idea to stop it from coming.
- Using a bird feeder: You could buy a birdhouse or a bird feeder and keep some eye-catching food for the woodpecker. That will keep it deviated from pecking on the tree and will keep it more engrossed in the food you place there.
How to Keep Woodpeckers Away on Cedar Siding
- Using electronic bird repellant: There are devices in which you can configure the duration of activity. Whenever a woodpecker is sensed in the vicinity, these devices set on a sound that scares the bird away. Also, these already have great reviews from people who have used them.
- Use woodpecker spikes: You can place these spikes as a barrier around the tree or cedar siding you are trying to protect from the bird. These will prevent them from entering the vicinity of the cedar siding. You could place these spikes in such a manner that these keep the bird away without harming them.
How to Stop Woodpeckers from Pecking Trees?
- You can use woodpecker nets. These nets will help you stop woodpeckers from pecking trees. You can place these nets around the trees. Hence, these nets will act as a barrier for the bird.
- Hanging shiny discs to your fruit trees is also a very smart way of getting away with woodpecker nuisance. These discs are surely bird repellants and have been found to be super effective to drive woodpeckers away from your house.
Woodpeckers Solutions
Since woodpeckers are good indicators of forest ecosystem dynamics and climate change, we must use good methods to repel them.
Use Smells to Repel Woodpeckers
For quite some time, the sense of smell has been a very powerful factor in driving woodpeckers away. All one needs to do is, identify the smells that repel woodpeckers. There is a list of scents that woodpeckers hate. One can use these to get rid of woodpeckers around their house.
Some of the common scents that repel woodpeckers are:
- lavender
- Rosemary
- onion
- basil
- peppermint
- cinnamon
- citronella
- catnip
Woodpecker Enemies
Another difficult but effective way to get rid of woodpeckers would be to bring in their enemies in the vicinity. There are unquestionably some creatures that pose a major threat to woodpeckers. Once those are spotted somewhere around, the woodpeckers might consider twice before starting the wood digging.
Some of these creatures are:
- Coyote
- Foxes
- Hawks
- Bobcats
- Snakes
Do Woodpeckers Eat Termites?
To get rid of woodpeckers, one has to understand their behaviour, and reactions to certain things effectively. Additionally, we have to carefully study their threats, and weaknesses before investing time in finding measures to keep them away.
Woodpeckers dig down into the woods and this behaviour is somewhat similar to what a termite does in a silent manner. Termites eat wood and degrade the wood. Woodpeckers while finding insects in the wood holes, eats up termite too.
Sounds to get rid of woodpeckers
One can use the sense of hearing about scaring away woodpeckers. You can place a wind chime somewhere around your trees. It can fool your woodpecker into thinking that there is a predator nearby.
Another option here could be making use of ultrasonic sound-emitting devices. The magnitude of radiations from an ultrasonic device is likely to scare away a lot of birds including woodpeckers.
Are woodpeckers Smart?
If we look at one of the points above, we have highlighted how we can use a wind chime to scare away a woodpecker. We have to understand the level of smartness a woodpecker has. So, woodpeckers are really smart birds.
Recently, a rare woodpecker returned to Dorset due to organic farming practices. It highlights the smartness of woodpeckers.
Their smartness is more visible when it comes to looking for food or shelter. It helps them to identify any suitable opportunity for food and shelter. So, applying methods to get rid of them is most likely to work.
Some FAQs About Getting Rid of Woodpeckers
- Does clapping sound work in scaring away woodpeckers?
Clapping can frighten the woodpecker and make it go away. But, this can work for some time. Woodpecker is a smart bird and hence, once it is subjected to frequent clapping, they might not respond anymore to it.
- Which plants do woodpeckers like a lot?
Generally, woodpeckers like a berry bush a lot. So, planting these outside your house and prevent them busy and engrossed and hence prevent them from entering inside. Most of the common berry bushes are liked a lot by woodpeckers.
- What are some fragrant oils that I can use to get rid of woodpeckers?
You can spray peppermint oil and pepper fragrance oil. Additionally, you can also use rosemary or lavender fragrance essential oils to drive these birds away.
- Where can I buy some of the best woodpecker deterrent spikes?
Some of the undoubtedly best bird deterrent spikes are:
- Valible bird spikes.
- Polycarbonate bird spikes.
You can buy these via eCommerce platforms like Amazon.