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Q: I have a woodpecker that is pecking holes in my stucco house. Is there anything I can do to get him to stop?
Woodpeckers are only doing what comes naturally to them - drilling into wood in search of food. Perhaps the bird drilling on your house hears the hum of your electrical wiring and assumes it's the sound of busy insects beneath the wood's surface. Woodpeckers also use wood and sometimes metal parts of houses as drumming sites. They drill their bills against the surface in a rapid staccato beat.
This drumming noise is a
territorial announcement, and a method for attracting a
mate. Drumming happens most regularly in the spring. There
are several things you can try. One of them may work.
1. Place some sheet metal or heavy aluminum foil over
the area the bird is using.
2. Hang some aluminum pie plates around the affected
area. Make sure they move in the wind (to scare the
bird).
3. Place a rubber snake near the drilling area (to
scare the bird away).
4.Repeatedly scare the bird when it lands on your
house.
5. If nothing else works,call your local wildlife
official who may come to your house to "remove" the
offending bird.
Q: We have a female cardinal who has declared war on our house. She starts whacking herself into our windows at six a.m. and will not quit until the sun goes down. How long can I expect this behavior to last?
The behavior will last through the breeding season. It's a territorial reaction to seeing an intruder on her "turf. Covering the windows with screens will help, but when we had the same problem a few years ago, the bird just moved to another window. A sharp-shinned hawk put our bird out of its misery. You may try screening, or cellophane on the outside surfaces of the window. Remove any perches from which the bird can see itself in the windows. And continue to harass the bird to try to shock it out of its pattern of territoriality. (Spraying the bird with the garden hose may work, and rubber snakes hung by the windows sometime do the trick.) If all else fails, call your local wildlife officials and ask them to come out and remove the bird for you. It's drastic, but it will end the problem for good.
Q: Do all birds mate for life?
No. Some species have unusually strong pair bonds between mated birds. These species include some eagles, cranes, swans, geese, and ravens. Being mated "for life" means, really, for as long as both birds are alive. When one of the pair dies, the other will take a new mate. Most North American bird species pair up primarily to reproduce, and go their separate ways soon after they have nested.
In some species, such as the ruby-throated hummingbird, the pair bond is very brief. In the case of the ruby-throats, the male departs just a few days after copulating with the female. He has nothing to do with the incubation or raising of the young birds.
Q: Do all birds migrate?
Not all bird species migrate, but most do. Migration is defined as the seasonal movement of birds, north in the spring from the wintering grounds, and southward in the fall from the breeding grounds. Among the birds that are resident, or do not migrate, are many grouse, ptarmigan, and quail species, many owl species, pileated, red-bellied, downy, and hairy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatch, Carolina wren, northern cardinal, wrentit, ring-necked pheasant, Townsend's solitaire, common raven, gray jay, and northern mockingbird.