It’s March and this is a conversation that we have with just about everybody who walks through our doors or calls on the phone. The woodpeckers, especially, are creating their breeding grounds and therefore are doing one of three things – defending territory, trying to attract a female or making a nest. So you have probably heard or seen them drilling into the side of your house or tapping on your furnace stack at 5 o’clock in the morning. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do about them on the furnace stack but there are ways you can try to stop them from making holes in the side of your house. Remember that these are wild animals and if you are trying to take control of them, good luck! The solutions that we carry are not guaranteed to stop the behavior and you may need to try several of them before you succeed. Reflective tapes have had the most success and we suggest starting with the free option which is to string old cd’s with fishing line, attaching 4 or 5 of them with 4″ in between each one. Then attach this to your eaves trough and let hang down over the affected area. If you google solutions for deterring woodpeckers from drilling the suggestion is to buy an owl. This will not work for one very important reason, birds know it’s not real, these are highly intelligent birds and know when there is imminent danger. The need to breed far outweighs minor danger, so they will continue this until the breeding season is over which is a 4-6 week period. Woodpeckers are a protected species and once they start building a nest you are prohibited from destroying the nest, if you can deter them before they start building a nest this is acceptable. Most people who come in to our store say that they have lived in their home for many years without any issues and then all of a sudden this year they are having problems. There are two reasons why – 1) We continue to take over natural habitats and force these birds to find other breeding/nesting grounds and 2) We build our homes out of the exact product they love to peck and nest in WOOD (peckers). Please feel free to contact one of our team members who will be happy to give you suggestions for this.