Why do woodpeckers peck at things other than trees? And how do I stop them?

June 8, 2004 10:11 AM

Why do woodpeckers peck at things other than trees? I have one that constantly pecks at my window, and it is incredibly annoying. I thought that woodpeckers peck to find/store food, but there clearly isn't anywhere to store food in the glass of my window, so does it just love to peck things? So far it hasn't done any damage to the window, but i'm a little worried it might break through the glass one of these days. Most importantly, how do I get rid of it? Yelling/throwing things at the window scares it away temporarily, but it always comes back.
posted by rorycberger to Pets & Animals (12 answers total)

Perhaps it's mating season and the other woodpecker that he sees in your window is really pissing him off.
posted by LionIndex at 10:18 AM on June 8, 2004

We had a woodpecker attack a neighbor's rain gutter once, fortunately it didn't like the taste of it. This article might help.
posted by azul at 10:20 AM on June 8, 2004

Is the window reflective on the outside? I had a similar situation in an office I worked in a few years ago. It was about this time of year (read: mating/nesting time) and a bird with a nest in a tree next to the window kept seeing his/her reflection and attacking the "intruding" bird. Same bird also dive-bombed us as we walked to our cars if we were parked too close to the tree. I never did figure a way to get the bird to stop pecking at the window, just resolved myself that eventually the babies would leave the nest, and the defending of the nest would stop. Which it did, after two or three weeks.
posted by vignettist at 10:22 AM on June 8, 2004

This site has some great advice (scroll to PROBLEM: WOODPECKERS ARE PECKING AT OUR HOUSE!). LionIndex is right, it is mating season, and your bird is either trying to attract another bird with the tapping sound, or he thinks that his reflection is another bird, and he's claiming his territory and trying to scare off the intruder.

Things that ususally work:

Hang some mylar or cellophane strips in front of the glass, or even a single mylar balloon. This'll freak him out.

Cover the window completely (on the outside, of course) in dark fabric for a few days. He can't see his reflection, and won't hear the satisfying rat-tat-tat when he pecks on the glass, and will go elsewhere.

If all else fails, this will work. Mix a bit of any kind of edible oil with some cayenne pepper, and smear it on the outside of your window for a few days. The woodpecker will go away. Apply windex as needed.
posted by iconomy at 10:33 AM on June 8, 2004

We had this problem in the Spring on one of my sliding glass doors. I wouldn't mind the birds pecking their heads off but they wake up so danged early. Our solution, which worked, was to take a bar of soap and basically scribble all over the window with it, on the outside. The birds we had [house finches] would get so they would peck at the little parts we didn't soap over, so we really had to soap it good. We also alleviated this problem over half our screen door by putting a screen door over it [actually leaning over it since we didn't have runners for it]. Anything that can make your windw look less like a mirror will help the situation, which should solve itself pretty soon. Also, make sure there aren't any bug or bug-looking things right inside your window. Birds like bugs and seeing flies inside your house on your sills will make them do this.
posted by jessamyn at 11:22 AM on June 8, 2004

If you have access to the outside ledge that the woodpecker is landing on, you might consider spike strips. And, once the mating season is over, you could remove and store them for next year.
posted by thewittyname at 11:42 AM on June 8, 2004

Mix a bit of any kind of edible oil with some cayenne pepper, and smear it on the outside of your window for a few days. The woodpecker will go away.

Have you actually seen this work? I ask because I've always heard that birds are immune to capsaicin.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:54 PM on June 8, 2004

I ask because I've always heard that posted by Johnny Assay

He was trying to link to this.

As far as I know, birds are immune to hot pepper. We put it in our birdseed to keep the raccoons out.
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:04 PM on June 8, 2004

I made the mistake of trying to stop my parrot from eating the wood around our windows by putting cayanne pepper on it. Turns out, parrots LOVE hot & spicey. The hotter, the better. Whoops.
posted by aacheson at 2:25 PM on June 8, 2004

I did the cayenne and oil thing myself, and it worked like a charm. Maybe it worked just because of the oil (I used olive oil), I don't know. But the woodpecker pecked for about two minutes, and flew away, never to return, although he did make a nice home in a black walnut tree in the back of my yard. The oil alone would be enough to put him off pecking on the glass, I would think.

I never heard the cayenne pepper/bird thing before - that's fascinating. Next time I'll try something else mixed in with the oil, though ;) (maybe salt?)
posted by iconomy at 5:02 PM on June 8, 2004

Yeah, I didn't find out about the pepper/bird thing until my Dad accidentally ate some of her bird treat (it looks like trail mix) and steam started coming out of his ears because it was so spicy
posted by aacheson at 6:55 PM on June 8, 2004

Plants that make peppers have evolved their heat in order to dissuade animals other than birds from eating their fruit. Birds are “supposed”¹ to eat the fruit (the heat is concentrated around the seed sacs) and scatter the seeds in their poop.

1 I try to avoid teleological language when discussing evolution, because it's wrong, but it's very hard since we humans think teleologically.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:42 AM on June 9, 2004