How to Keep Woodpeckers From Destroying Cedar Siding

Woodpeckers can cause serious damage to unpainted or untreated cedar siding on a house. Within days, they can create several 1- to 2-inch holes in your siding. There are many reasons woodpeckers do this to cedar siding, including mating, nesting or hunting for insects. Woodpeckers are protected under federal law, but there are methods that may help prevent a woodpecker from drilling into your siding.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Chicken wire
• Mesh netting
• Plastic falcon
• Mylar tape
• Mylar balloon
• Permanent marker
• Water hose
• Nesting box

1. Inspect your siding for an insect infestation. If woodpeckers are suddenly interested in your cedar siding, that could be an indication that you have an insect infestation, and the woodpecker is merely looking for food. Carpenter ants and carpenter bees are attractive food for woodpeckers. Treat the infestation yourself with an insecticide or call a professional, and the woodpeckers may go away.

2. Scare the woodpeckers away. An easy way to do this is to simply spray the offending woodpecker with your garden hose whenever you hear it pecking at your siding. After a few times, the woodpecker might go elsewhere. A plastic falcon decoy may also work. Woodpeckers also dislike shiny objects. So place 4-foot strips of reflective Mylar tape on your siding near where the bird is pecking. A Mylar balloon with large eyes drawn onto it with a permanent market also works.

3. Prevent the woodpecker from reaching your siding. Nailing large sheets of chicken wire or mesh netting in the area where the pecking has occurred will discourage the woodpecker from returning to the area. This is only practical if the bird does not move to another area of the house.

4. Give the woodpecker a home. Sometimes woodpeckers create holes in cedar siding because of a lack of nesting options (dead trees) in the area. Posting a cedar nesting box or two on top of a tall pole can provide a new home for the woodpecker.

Tips & Warnings

• Woodpeckers are a federally protected species. So however you choose to address a troublesome woodpecker, be sure it doesn't cause any harm to the bird, or you could face stiff penalties.