Woodpecker attacking cars

Car owners around town are covering their mirrors in an attempt to outsmart a woodpecker who apparently thinks his reflection is an enemy.

Tim Taylor, who owns Thruway Auto Glass, said he replaced 30 smashed mirrors last year and 18 this year because of the bird, which has claimed this area east of Syracuse as his territory.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/27/national/a101831D09.DTL

I had a woodpecker for years in my yard that used to peck my gutter.

It was like a jackhammer going off.

He never did go away ... I just moved.

The first two years that we moved into our new house we had a woodpecker that would peck the metal cover on our chimney. At 6:30 am every morning for weeks at the time it would sound like machine-gun fire. Scared the poo out of us the first couple of times. My daughter was just a year old at the time and would wake up screaming. I tried shooting him with the water hose but it wouldn't reach. You could go outside and scream at him and as soon as you went back inside he returned. Finally, someone told us that male woodpeckers would do that type of thing on anything shining during their mating season. My hubby painted the metal black and no problem now. All I can suggest is covering the shining parts of the car until the crazy bird gets laid!


I've also heard of woodpeckers damaging wood siding on homes. That can be really expensive. Just be careful how you handle the problem. In my state it is against the law to harm woodpeckers. MAjor fine if caught.