mike wrote:
Every morning shortly after dawn, a big black bird does a
woodpecker imitation on my metal roof vent. Of course,
he picks the one that vents the bathrooms, so the racket
reverberates all over the house...and wakes the dead...that'd
be me...
He pecks, looks around, repeats a few times then moves on to
the next house.
Suspect he's marking his territory.

I'm in the city, so the obvious solution involving lead projectiles
is not an option.

How do I scare him off? I'm not above killing the little pecker.
A sound-activated stun gun sounds like a fun project.
Suggestions?

Hit the hardware store or garden center for some Tanglefoot. It's a
semi-solid castor oil. Sticky, goopy stuff. Birds won't go near it for
fear of getting stuck in it. Smear it on/around the roof vent. Over
time, it'll eventually pick up enough dust and dirt that it won't be
sticky anymore (takes months), but when that happens you can wipe it
off and re-apply.