First thing I would do is determine whether the woodpecker is indeed
nesting. Some woodpeckers make a pretty good-size hole in search of
food (and will work on it repeatedly if it's been a productive spot),
and some make holes to cache things (e.g., acorn woodpecker).

Woodpeckers nest seasonally, to raise young, not for general housing.
If you determine it really is nesting, find out the nesting cycle and
when the final brood of young have fledged, cover the hole.

Jo Ann

cybercat wrote:
A woodpecker has hammered through the wood siding on the east side of our
house--in the back--wayyy up where we need a longer ladder than we have to
reach the hole. He was made a perfect round "birdhouse" hole. It took him a
lonnngg time, like a few seasons. (He shows up usually when I am not at home
...so I forgot about him for a long time, and what was a few bare wood spots
became a good-sized hole.) This house once had termites, so I am not unhappy
about having a woodpecker around, but not altogether happy about the hole in
the house either.

My questions:

1. What is between the siding and the drywall? Is there insulation there,
usually? (This house was build around 1960, in a suburb.) Any chance he
might come right through he drywall?

2. What are the downsides of letting him nest there? (Moisture getting in
the walls, I imagine .. there is a good sized eave/overhand, but rain is not
always completely vertical, so I see how it might be a problem). I do like
animals and am not anal about coexisting with them, but I want to be a
responsible homeowner, too. We will eventually want to unload this place on
somebody.

3. It is time to get a big ladder, as we really need to clean the gutters
ourselves, and remove some ivy that has grown up fairly high. This house is
a typical split level, and the hole is in the wall of the master bedroom.
What kind of ladder should we get, how long, for all purpose stuff like
gutter cleaning and examining woodpecker holes and such?

4. If you had a woodpecker family nesting in your house, what would you do?
What are my alternatives? We had bats living in the top of the attic for a
while, having flown in through a kind of vent up there, and we called bat
guy who put up screening while they were out so they moved on. That was kind
of different because their droppings came down on the patio. The woodpecker
nest is on a side of the house where nobody ever goes. Which come to think
of it is probably why the woodpeckers like it there.

Thanks for any suggestions.



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