Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

[Woody Woodpecker laughter]

Woodpecker damage to your home is no laughing matter.

As a rule woodpeckers excavate cavities in dead trees called snags, which they live in. The exception is when they mistake dark colored, or cedar house siding, for a snag and end up leaving a trail of destruction.

And it looks like cannon balls have been shot through the house. Maybe two or three; and we’ve seen some with fifteen, sixteen holes.

Cliff Shackelford is a non-game ornithologist. He says woodpecker damage occurs most often in urban and suburban areas where the dead wood has been removed.

What we recommend people to do with problems with woodpeckers is to put a nest box. If you’re familiar with a bluebird box, it’s just a larger version of that custom made for woodpeckers.

Visit passporttotexas.org for a link to free blueprints to make your own woodpecker nest box.

People can build this in a couple of hours on the weekend, and put it up on the side of the house, and in all cases that we’ve done this – it’s worked. And the woodpecker stops chiseling on the home, and goes to this next box, and is very content.

That’s our show for today… Remember: Life’s Better Outside…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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