On Apr 27, 11:42*am, 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?

Try coating/spraying the pipe with spray-on automobile undercoating.
It's a sticky stuff that the birds don't mess with. I have used it
with great success.