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I built my client a nice, sandblasted redwood sign. Had a pictorial of two oak trees "twin oaks". Not long after, a woodpecker attacked it and drilled two golf ball-sized holes into each tree trunk! One of the holes was clean through the 1.5'' sign. So I built him a new one, identical to the first, out of HDU. Going on the advice/suggestion of someone on the bullboard and well before I built the new sign, I related to the client that it could be that woodpeckers are territorial. In other words, the woodpecker may come back to the new sign. In other words, you may have to call Steve Erwin or Marlin Perkins to capture and relocate him or you might just have to declare open season on the woodpecker. Well, sure enough, he came back. He made his holes in almost the exact locations as on the first sign.
New questions: What material can you use to make a dimensional sign that is woodpeckerproof? How can you trap a woodpecker? How long does a woodpecker live?
[ February 24, 2004, 11:08 AM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7403 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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Woodpeckers pound on something that will transmist sounds. It's a mating thing. Drumming. They like to drum on downspouts and other metal chimneys too. It ain't anything personal you just gotta find something he likes better. You should seee the woodpeckers we got here. They are as big as chickens. And when they start on something your goona wake up no matter how tired you are.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5273 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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At my house (wood siding) it was a race to see who got them dang featherheads first... me or the cat.
Life expectancy of a woodpecker drilling holes in one of MY signs... the time it takes me load aim.
The "one-shot" side of the Moon
Note to the animal lovers... sorry to ruffle your feathers, but there IS a LOT of those little woodpeckerheads around here and THEY are destroying MY home. It was me or the birds... I won.
-------------------- The Moon aka: Stefenie Harris Moonlight Designs Pollock Pines, CA learnin' somethin' new every day! stefenie@comcast.net Posts: 550 | From: Pollock Pines, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I don't blame you Moon. Well, I did offer the services of my eldest son. Doesn't matter if it's shotgun, rifle, bow and arrow or BB gun. He rarely misses. He didn't take me up on it. The client says he's tried but he never sees the bird.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7403 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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Since the bird always pecks in the same location, I think I would first fill the holes with some bondo type filler and then using one of those fiberglass repair kits (from the auto parts store)and fiberglass over those areas.....then paint. Might be worth a try.......
Joe, Makin Chips and Havin fun!
-------------------- Joe Cieslowski Connecticut Woodcarvers Gallery P.O.Box 368 East Canaan CT 06024 jcieslowski@snet.net 860-824-0883 Posts: 2345 | From: East Canaan CT 06024 | Registered: Nov 2001
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I had a woodpecker problem at my first house with cedar siding. They would drill a hole, drag out some insulation, and move in. You could hear them in between the walls. I was told to hang a rubber snake and/or a plastic owl to keep them scared away, and it worked pretty well.
I cut plugs out of spare pieces of the siding to match the holes with a jigsaw. Sprayed the hole with the foam insulation and glued in the plug. It looked like a knot after stained to match.
( you have to watch the foam...too much and it expands out the knot hole and runs down the house...and I'm pretty sure about that! )
-------------------- Ace Graphics & Printing Camdenton, MO. USA
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if its a PILEATED WOODPECKER http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/4h/pilewood.htm then you got a real hole maker. yes they are teritorial. we got a couple here on my 2 acres. and the smaller redheaded version. you just do such great work you fool the woodpecker into thinkin its a real tree!!!!!! or maybe he knows your last name....and associates that with SPIDERS, one of there favorite thngs to eat!!!! hehehehehee.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Yep, I'm that old Steve. Marlin Perkins was my hero....loved to see all them animals....and Marlin bulldoggin' gators, capturing rhinos and stuff....on a black and white TV
Joe, I haven't looked at the HDU one yet but could probably repair the wood one with some sawdust/epoxy. But first, the woodpecker has to go. Maybe we could booby-trap the HDU sign or something.
Old paint I haven't seen the woodpecker but I'll bet he's got a psychotic, blank looking stare....a chicken looks more intelligent than a woodpecker. Probably all that hammering scrambles their brains.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7403 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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In the West Country of England, Woodpecker is a cider – doesn't have much life expectancy at all! Tiz zaid that zider is to blame for the rather zlurrrred West Country accent. Twaz'nt me that zaid it though!
-------------------- Arthur Vanson Bucks Signs Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England arthur@buckssigns.co.uk -------------------- Posts: 805 | From: Chesham, Bucks, England | Registered: Mar 2002
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Since they seem to be so territorial maybe you could place a property tax bill in the hole. That should scare em off. errr...you don't have to call me Johnson......
-------------------- Ron Costa Sign and Design 28 Ingerson Road Jefferson, NH 0358 Posts: 620 | From: New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2002
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Now wait just a minute! I'm not THAT old and I remember Marlin Perkins.
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
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I remember Marlon Perkins and Jim Fowler. Jim is from Albany and helped create our Parks at Chehaw Wild Animal Park. The animals are in their natural habitats and people past thru a protected area to see them. Wayne, we hope you are planning on attending the Dixie Civil War meet next month in Laurens,SC. Maybe we can put all of our letterheads together and come up with a solution to get rid of your woodpecker. Good Luck! Judy
-------------------- Judy Pate Signs By Judy Albany, Georgia USA 229-435-6824
Live simply...Love generously...Care deeply...Speak kindly...Leave the rest to God. Posts: 2621 | From: Albany,GA,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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LOL, Marlin Perkins!! You may not recall his name but you have never forgot the Mutual of Omaha logo of that company that sponsored "Wild Kingdom" I bet!
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marlin perkins.....aint that geo perkins older brother?????????? heheheheheheheh
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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I can't remember where I put my glasses but the silly radio jingle from Stanley Chevrolet goes through my head all the time...
"Call Stanley? Stanley! Stanley Chevrolet.. Stanley, Stanley, Stanley Chevrolet - two blocks off the Santy Ana Freeway 11980 East Firestone - Stanley Chevrolet......."
Teresa Brewer, 1949. Stanley closed down 40 years ago
Posts: 1859 | From: / | Registered: Nov 1998
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So, evidently, there must be few options here. Make another sign out of stone, bronze, or concrete, or assassinate the woodpecker. If I cut out a piece of aluminum and put stickers on it, he's likely to hammer that too. Thanks
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7403 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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Maybe changing the design to incorporate some reflective materials would help? Woodpeckers are repelled by aluminum foil and other bright, reflective surfaces.
Glueing a strip of rubber along the bottom of the sign might help, too. A woodpecker drums on the sign as a part of the mating process. The rubber will absorb the vibration in the sign, and deaden the tone it produces while he's banging it, making it less effective for his "needs". (Sorta like putting a pillow in a bass drum to take the ring out of it.)
Might work... Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Just a little info here in case you decide to "do away " with said bird. Both the ivory billed and red-cockaded woodpeckers on on the US fish & wildlife endangered species list. Which means that we cannot kill or harass them.
So I guess that means they have license to harass signs
-------------------- Kathy Joiner River Road Graphics 41628 River Road Ponchatoula, La.70454
Old enough to know better...Too young to resist. Posts: 1891 | From: Ponchatoula, LA | Registered: Nov 2000
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The Ivory Billed is considered to be extinct in the bird books.....a very large bird, looks almost identical to the Piliated...if ya kill that one, your in for some big trouble...
FYI.....killing ANY bird is illegal (except for starlings and I think pidgeons) in the US...
OK...I'd be p$#^ed too if it was destroying my sign.....
HAHA...try the shiny object trick, I think crows are attracted to shiny objects....
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1. hummm sounds a case of shoot the bastard for damages, Ask questions after the BBQ.
2. Take into consideration, the dude is just trying to get him some noookie and is using your sign for attention, "hey baby check out my sign, with a nice tail feather like that...want to tap on it with me a bit?"
Or...
3. Get an motion talking alarm, like the cars have..."YOU"RE TO CLOSE TO THE SIGN! GET BACK!" "YOU HAVE 5 SECONDS TO DISPERSE, OR YOU WILL BE SHOT!
-------------------- aka:Cisco the "Traveling Millennium Sign Artist" http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935 "to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98 Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Thanks for the culinary info Mike. Well then, I wonder how it would go with my wife's spotted owl and whooping crane recipes?
All jokes aside, I'm not going to do anything to the poor amorous bird. That part is forunately not my problem. But I would probably deal with it somehow if it was. But the customer has paid over $700 for the two signs and I feel bad about that.
My mom paid to have a catfish pond dug, stocked it with catfish, and after they were good eating size, an otter found it and wasted no time depleting her fish. He was making regular trips from the creek and had a beaten out trail before my son ended it with his hunting bow. Mom had called the Game and Freshwater Fish Commission and they wouldn't do anything about it.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7403 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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If you could catch him, you could put a rubber cover over his top bill. Eventually he would bore through that too, but he might leave your area in disgust. Really, Im serious. Kinda like a woodpecker condom.
-------------------- Maker of fine signs and other creative stuff. Located at 109 N. Cumberland ave. Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-837-0242 Posts: 4172 | From: Ages-Brookside, Ky. Up the Holler... | Registered: Jul 1999
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That's it!!! Johns got it. Here's what ya do.
Getcha' a good woodpecker trap....you know the ones with the holes already in it. That way the woodpecker can't peck his way out and he'll get really confused and dizzy. Then give him some viagra....and I mean a lot. When "you know what" happens then put John's condom on it, and he won't be able to get close enough the your sign to peck a hole in it....ha ha ha
-------------------- Ace Graphics & Printing Camdenton, MO. USA
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Go to Arizona and grab one of them petrified logs out of the National Park and build your sign out of that. It should be safe from all but the Carbide Billed Hilti Headed Woodpecker. Be sure to deduct the fine from the National Park Service as a normal business expense.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5084 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I know there are a few of us that remember him but i'll bet not many...
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