How to Get Rid of Woodpeckers

Woodpeckers on homes can give homeowners an awful lot of grief. They will tap-tap night and day on aluminum siding and wood, and leave nasty little holes in fascia or trim boards, on wood beams, even stucco or brick.

There are 22 species of woodpeckers in North America, the most common being the Downey Woodpecker. Also quite ubiquitous are the Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker and the Northern Flicker. The birds are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, so you can put away your BB gun, poisons or other lethal traps. Any bird control measure used to deter woodpeckers on homesmust be non-lethal and humane.

The challenge with most kinds of woodpecker challenges is to find a way to keep the birds from physically being able to land on your house and treat it like a giant tree.  Netting or some other physical barrier that prevents them from landing on the house is the best bet, but of course if every exterior wall of your home is a potential tree substitute for them to land on, that can be a huge challenge.  Physical remedies are always better than behavioral remedies that may try to scare the bird away, as most woodpeckers are going to be living in your neighborhood 24/7 and they may eventually determine that the things you are using to try and scare them are not really a threat.

Drumming—Unlike songbirds that sing to attract mates and defend their territories from each other, woodpeckers do this by drumming on hollow trees and other resonant tree limbs.  If they find a nice sounding board on your house, you may have to put up netting or another physical barrier to keep the birds away.

Feeding—Woodpeckers hunt for insects by moving up and down on the trunks and limbs of trees and listening for the sound of the grubs moving under the bark.  Then they make small holes to dig the bugs out.  If you have lots of little holes on your home, you may have carpenter bees or some other insects infesting your house siding. 

Excavating—during the fall woodpeckers are excavating winter roost holes, so if you have a bird digging out a few larger holes in your siding or stucco, maybe that is what it is doing. 

Certain sounds can keep woodpeckers from homes. Sounds emitted by Sonic Bird Deterrents. These devices create alarming distress and predator calls that make woodpeckers nervous enough to leave. One bird control manufacturer teamed up with ornithologists at a major university to develop just the right sounds to deter pest birds. They came up with a device that broadcasts distress and/or predator calls of 22 different species of birds. And, yes, the device can be programmed to emit hawk sounds, a woodpecker's natural enemy. If yours is a large property with several buildings, not to worry, some sonic bird deterrents will cover up to an acre. You can even attach extra speakers to expand the coverage up to six acres.

One way to deter pest woodpeckers is using woodpecker deterrent netting. Hanging a plastic netting from the eaves of your home or building creates a “curtain” that the woodpeckers cannot get through. This will force the woodpeckers elsewhere to do their dastardly deed of creating holes in your wood siding.

Installing the Woodpecker Netting

Woodpecker deterrent netting can easily be attached to the end of the eave of the home and draped down. This blocks the wall making it difficult for the woodpecker to get at the siding of the home. Once the woodpeckers have gone it is safe to remove the netting and save for the next spring or fall, when woodpeckers are active again.

It is always recommended to install any type of bird control before the birds are a problem. If you have had bird control issues in the past, install bird control deterrents before you have a problem again.