On 3/21/2012 4:23 PM, Martin C. wrote:
On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:26:10 +0000, Martin C. wrote:
I realize I'm not giving you much to go on ... but just in case
the sound is symptomatic of something (that should be) obvious ...
may I ask:
What would make a chimney burp like a machine gun?

It WAS a bird!

Just now, I heard the machine gun. So I ran outside, and lo-and-behold, I
spooked a darkish bird (couldn't tell what kind) which flew away off the
chimney.

You guys are geniuses!

There is no way I would have figured that out on my own! I wasn't even
'thinking' of an animal. I was thinking it was mechanical somehow.

I'll 'try' to snap a picture at the next machine-gun session!

PS: I don't know what a wood pecker looks like ... but I'll try to first
snap a picture.
Perhaps a red shafted flicker, or a cousin of a different color. The
males try to find the loudest thing to hammer on they can find. They are
trying to mark a territory to keep other males away.

They have also surprised me by hammering on a metal chimney cover and
once I caught one hammering on the sheet metal on my 60" tiller. We hear
them lots of times hammering on power poles.

Paul in Central Oregon