Woodpecker creating holes in house
 

I have woodpecker issues making holes in my trim boards at the roofline.
Have replaced a few boards already, but they keep coming back.

I understand that they make holes for various reasons: looking for bugs, sounding territorial area, etc In my case there are no insects found where they've been making their holes.

I have read other posts on preventative measures one can use:
Scare them by hanging brightly colored wind socks, fake Owls or Hawks, hanging pie plates, and other shiny objects, etc.

Would be interested in other comments.

By the way, where would one purchase a fake Owl ?

The tin pie plates worked for me and they were a conversation piece every time I had a visitor.:D

Insects
 

You might want to triple check that they are not hearing insects (carpenter ants) in the wood and trying to get at them.

options
 

You could replace those trim boards with Azek boards or clad the wood ones in flashing.

Try a 2-inch Strip of Mylar Ribbon with a Twist in It...
 

Woodpecker like their "signals" to be loud, so I wouldn't use flashing.

In my Florida neighborhood, they transmit by tapping on aluminum TV antennas and on the fiberglass covers on antenna-rotating devices on 50' TV towers.

This may be the opportunity to use swim noodles! :eek:

I have a neighbor who would sell you two of them. ;)

Most likely are bugs in the wall. Often times lady bugs.

It’s not always about bugs because we used to have one that hammered away on our satellite dish every day. Quite the racket!
We’ve had them pecking on our log home too but on close inspection, no damage could be seen.
If you’re seeing actual holes they are most likely after some type of bug/larva-stage insect.

I had one pecking at my aluminum gutter a few years ago back in Ma. That was quite a racket and always in the morning at sunrise.

I have a metal roof and one decided to hammer away at it in the morning for a couple weeks. I didn't know what it was right away. It sounded like a humming electrical motor. I finally went outside and saw it. It flew away but was back the next day. He came back for another week or so, then stopped and never came back. Maybe he hurt his beak on the metal?

woody the wood pecker
 

We have an abundance it seems of woodpeckers with their frequent visits. A lot of them. What works for us in keeping them off of the trimboards is ....... just feed them by putting a suet cake out for them in a suet cage that comes free in a box of ten for $10. No issues here only needing to replace the suet cake every few weeks. :D Oh.......keep it within your reach for easy reloading and bring it in at night since the racoons love them. ;)

Won't bears be attracted to the suet?

Um...
 

Search amazon for owl decoys.

Bears would be attracted to anything that is “edible” and to a bear, pretty much everything is edible.
Bringing the suet in at night would help but if a bear smells anything during the day, they will help themselves unless otherwise bothered by a dog, etc.
They are out there...one morning this summer we were going out fishing out of Weirs channel at 4:30 am and we ran into a bear at our marina...and even stranger, there was a woman jogging through the marina property at this early hour! We drove toward the bear to scare it back into the trees as the woman jogged over to us. I asked her if she saw the bear and she said “yes, it was kind of following me”
I said “ we drove toward the bear to scare it off”
She said “I know” thanked us and jogged away. Silly woman.

Have you actually seen the birds? I've seen carpenter bees make a mess. You can get a owl decoy at Tractor Supply, I got one and a hawk decoy in Rochester.

Bought an owl decoy to get rid of pigeons.....within a few days they were actually perched on it's head.
Decoy foxes and swans have not worked with geese in Meredith but I have heard that rubber snakes work keeping ducks and sea gulls away from boats.
Might be worth a try.

We have a nice grass field here in Massachusetts where the geese congregate. Several years ago someone put up 2 pictures of a coyote in life size on the field and the geese disappeared. Recently I have noticed that the geese have again made this field home. Time for the life sized pictures.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I am a retired workaholic and continuing aquaholic

The one I bough the head swivels with a breeze... it looks like it's slowly turning it head like areal one does! I get the landing on its head though...some birds are real smart, pigeons are one of them!