Best Woodpecker Traps

Dealing with pests can be stressful and overwhelming. There are many options – professional services, certified products, do it yourself choices – but knowing which to use and how to use them can be tough when you know nothing about the pest.

Woodpeckers are known for pecking trees, but that’s about all we know about them. Sometimes it can be helpful in the midst of our hunt to gain a little bit of knowledge of our prey.

We have compiled some basic information about woodpeckers in an attempt to make your prevention projects a little bit easier. Read on to learn more.

Woodpeckers are birds that are found all around the world. They are very widespread, and very few of them are known to live in treeless areas. Their size varies based on species. Some woodpeckers can be as small as 2.8 inches, while others are more than 20 inches in length. Like their size, colors can vary too.

The feet of woodpeckers are excellent for grasping and gripping tree limbs so they can hold on while they peck. They have four toes with two facing forwards and two facing backward. Their legs are very strong, which also helps them hold on tight.

As expected, woodpeckers have very strong beaks. Their beaks are what allow them to peck into wood to find food, build homes, claim their territory, and mate. In addition to their strong beaks, they also have sticky tongues. This strange trait is very helpful in finding food; the stickiness lets them easily grab insects from within the wood of trees.

Woodpeckers usually eat insects and larvae, but they can also eat things like bird eggs, small rodents, lizards, fruit, and nuts.

Woodpeckers peck for a few reasons. The first and obvious is to find food and eat. Woodpeckers will make small and irregular holes to extract any kind of insect they can find.

These birds also peck to make their homes. Woodpeckers create homes within trees and other wood surfaces like houses. They do this by creating large holes. They will even “shop around” a bit before settling, starting holes in several different spots first.

Finally, woodpeckers sometimes just peck to make noise. That’s right – a woodpecker will peck on wood to emit that loud tapping sound. This sound is called drumming, and it is done first to proclaim that the surrounding territory has been marked by it. Second, it is used in mating.

There are a few strategies you can use that can help you keep woodpeckers away from your house. Of course, one of them is investing in traps like the ones we have discussed.

Another option is repellents. There are many different repellent options, most of which use fear tactics or blockage. Repellents come in the form of spikes, reflection tape and objects, plastic predators, and sound systems.

Rather than buying these repellents, there are also some do it yourself options that people have tried and found to work. Homeowners have reported success stories using pinwheels, helium balloons, and aluminum foil.

In conjunction with these efforts, you can use things like steel mesh and netting to keep woodpeckers away from affected areas. If woodpeckers have been targeting a specific area of your home or property, you may want to consider covering and protecting it.

Lastly, you may want to get your home inspected for insects. If you have found that woodpeckers are not making homes but are still pecking at your house, it may be because you have an insect infestation of some sort. The woodpeckers could be a sign that there are bugs in your walls. Getting rid of that problem can help with your woodpecker issue.