WOODPECKER DAMAGE – THE PROBLEM:  Wood siding 
doesn’t stand a chance against this bird [woodpecker pecking] 
...we’ll tell you more...on Passport to Texas.

This is Passport to Texas

If you live in East Texas, and have noticed strange holes 
in the wood siding of your home, don’t panic and call the 
police—call an ornithologist.

08—There are fifteen species of woodpeckers in Texas, eight of 
which are in the eastern third of Texas. And that’s where we get 
most of our calls of woodpecker damage.
 
Non-game ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford, says the 
pileated and red bellied woodpeckers are among the 
feathered culprits inflicting damage on homes with wood 
siding. 

15—What happens a lot of time is that they see these houses that 
might be painted brown, they might have cedar siding, and this is 
very attractive to the birds to try to excavate a cavity. So, they’re 
not looking for food when they’re doing this; they’re looking to 
make a cavity to call home.

The pileated woodpecker, about the size of a crow, can 
excavate holes as big as a man’s fist—and not just in the 
outside walls of your home, either. 

11—That’s right. We’ve documented pileateds going through into 
the sheetrock and into the room of the house. Of course, they’re 
very lost when they do that, they quickly go out. They’re not 
looking to make a mess of the house.

But they do. How to keep woodpeckers from damaging 
your home... [Woodpeckers pecking]...that’s tomorrow. 

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.





Total sound bite time:		                 0:34.0
Maximum Script time:		                 0:51.0                     Suggested show time: 85.0 = 1:25