Comments on: When Good Woodpeckers Go Bad

By: Crunchy Chicken

Crunchy Chicken — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:39:02 +0000

Ah, this is good to know. We’ve had some woodpecker action on our chimney over the last few weeks up here in Ballard. I’m glad to hear they are using it more as a musical instrument than a habitat.

By: Claire

Claire — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:36:01 +0000

Hi Mommy!!! I heart flickers!!! I think your blog is cool!!! It will inspire friends and total strangers!!!

By: lyanda

lyanda — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:06:15 +0000

Thanks Tara! Great point. I love that the chickadees joined in…I was referring to the current spring drumming behavior, which is more noise-making than damaging. But flickers can certainly do damage if they are looking for something–we have a few holes over our front porch to prove it (once we took care of our carpenter ants, this never happened again). Flickers are cavity-nesters, normally excavating dead trees/snags for nests, and these are getting harder to find–they sometimes explore a hollow-sounding part of wooden houses as a possible nest, but rarely find them suitable (though it’s not entirely unheard of). They do readily use woodpecker nest boxes. Good luck with your bird party this spring!

By: Tara

Tara — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:25:42 +0000

I’d just like to call attention to the “usually” don’t do damage. Last spring a flicker drilled a flicker-sized hole in the side of our house and appeared to be making itself at home. That very day (before a nest was built or anything) we boarded up the hole, and the next day a new hole was right beside it. The chickadees were even helping to remove the insulation. It was quite a party. Metallic bird tape and a cover over the second hole seemed to deter them. No nests. We’ll see how it goes this year.

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:40:37 +0000

What a timely post. I just heard two people complaining about this yesterday!”Dolphin-like” faces made me laugh. (And imagine if humans lived under water, how annoyed we’d be by the clicks and squeals of dolphins. It is amazing we can even hear the drumming flickers over the sound of jumbo jets, cars, leaf blowers, and lawnmowers.)

By: Seaedb

Seaedb — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:35:51 +0000

Yes, I am glad to see someone making peace with the flicker. They can be very nerve wracking at times but they usually do not do a lot of damage. We all need to learn to live with our wildlife neighbors. As we move farther and farther out into the suburbs we force the wild creatures to either move too, or to try to live with their human neighbors.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:22:35 +0000

For our first couple of years in our house, we thought we had a plumbing or gas pipe that would occasionally rattle, making quite a racket. Every time I heard it I’d get worried. Eventually, we figured out it was just our neighbors, the flickers, coming to call. Now when I hear it it just makes me smile. “Gentle attitude shift”? : )