How to purge your perch of plumed pests
Woodpeckers lead flock of springtime avian annoyances
That tap-tap-tapping of a woodpecker is charming if it’s heard in a forest, but if those 5,000 to 10,000 taps a day are resounding off the side of your house, the noise can be maddening.
“They can carry on tapping for hours on end,” said Bola Fagbamiye, the regional manager for Abell Pest Control and an expert in dealing with problem birds. “It can be very disruptive if it’s on someone’s house.”
And this is the time of year when most conflicts arise between nesting birds and homeowners.
“Right now I’d say most of our 50 staff in B.C. are dealing with these issues, especially with woodpeckers,” said Fagbamiye.
“One thing people should know is that woodpeckers are a protected species here and across North America so we have to be careful how we deal with them,” he said.
He said woodpeckers will try to burrow into siding — especially cedar siding — if they sense heat is trapped in the insulation. They will also dig into stucco.
“Sometimes they want to dig into a house to make a nest. Other times they might just be tapping to communicate with other woodpeckers,” he said.
Vancouver lawyer Michael Walker, who lives at 6th and Semlin, knows all about it.
His 103-year-old cedar-clad home is a veritable woodpecker magnet particularly for the northern flicker — a large type of woodpecker that is brown with distinctive scalloped plumage.
“It’s not really a tapping sound they make, it’s like someone hitting the house with a hammer. I like woodpeckers and if they weren’t destroying the house I really wouldn’t mind the noise,” said Walker.
“Three years ago I saw one digging into some moss in a little valley on the roof. That night there was a rain storm and water came flooding in. I had to call a roofer.”
Walker has lived in the area for 27 years and said woodpeckers showed up only about 10 years ago.
“It’s great to see them in the trees or eating suet in my backyard or drumming on the metal flashing around peoples’ chimneys. But I find them making holes in every corner of the house,” he said.
“Now I’m online looking up ways to get rid of them and there’s people saying: hang up 10-inch pie plates or convex mirrors or make bird houses for them. We will be replacing some of the old shingles pretty soon and before we do that we’ll have to solve the woodpecker problem.”
The best way to deal with them is to scare them away, said Fagbamiye.
“We use a scare-eye balloon. It’s a balloon the size of a beach ball with an eye in the middle and it spins in the wind and scares them away. Some people hang up old CDs or flash tape from the roof. Another way is to put up netting, but this is expensive,” he said.
Fagbamiye said spring is the time birds build their nests and forage and the likes of starlings and pigeons also become a nuisance for homeowners.
“Starlings like to get into the soffits and vents and they make annoying chirping noises while pigeons will get into the soffits, vents, attic spaces or just sit on a roof and their droppings can be a real problem,” he said.
Often the only way to deal with them is to use professional help.
“People try using beds of nails to keep them away or they will put up mesh and the birds get behind the mesh and now you have a bird cage. We use products designed to exclude birds from a home but don’t harm them and are not unsightly,” he said. “We see people using silicone sealers or expanding foams trying to close up spaces that birds are accessing and all it does is make a big mess. If people want help they can call us and get free advice over the phone.”
What’s the worst problem a homeowner might encounter from birds?
“Being dive-bombed by crows. At this time of the year if you have a crow’s nest close to your house, you should steer clear of it because they’ll dive-bomb you and it really scares people.”