Deterring Woodpeckers

Deterrent on south side

Each fall, we have a few juvenile woodpeckers that seem to get confused between our house and the trees that they should really be pecking on...so each year, I head to the dollar store to find some cheap, colorful, shiny things to hang off the house for a few months...

This year, while I was on the roof cleaning gutters, I also hung the deterrents on the eave near the front of the house (where we have had pecking in the past). The wind usually pulls them down by the end of the fall, but by then the woodpeckers have moved on.

We have a spot that they created a hole at one year that is still only filled but not repainted yet (it is in a high spot on a slant so the extension ladder on unstable ground is scary) but I hope to get up there and paint it in the next few weeks when we get some dry days again.

Unlike some people, I am not willing to hurt the woodpeckers to get them to stop this behavior (not to mention that it is illegal to do so), so this little bit of effort is worth not having to fill holes in our house.

Deterrent on north side

Seems like it wasn't an issue the first two years we were here, but I hate to wait until I hear them pecking before starting to do anything about it since they can do some serious damage in a very short time. These are preemptive strikes for me....LOL