Woodpecker Deterent

[steve garro]

Be glad you don't have bats!
Bats cost us at least 17K+

- Garro.

[steve garro]

Now post pandemic, I have time to renovate and give the cabin some TLC again.

Yeah, looks like you got some water leaking from somewhere

- Garro.

[vertical_doug]

Yeah, looks like you got some water leaking from somewhere

- Garro.

that's not my house, that's the neighbor. My house is the hand hewn log house.

[steve garro]

that's not my house, that's the neighbor. My house is the hand hewn log house.

Ahhhhhhhh - could it be that the WP's are after the hornet's eggs and young?

- Garro.

[htwoopup]

Be glad you don't have bats!
Bats cost us at least 17K+

- Garro.

I find this interesting and it gives me pause.

We have been trying desperately to attract and keep more bats at our house near the ocean water. There used to be a ton of bats there who all seemed to live in various places including the metal sort of tunnel like pieces on utility poles. But to a large degree there was a bat die-off after one of the N’oreasters and destruction. Who knows what environmental stuff happened but somehow there are a lot less of them.

The reason we want them is bats are one of the greatest consumers of mosquitos and with all of our standing tidal pools we have a lot of mosquitos. Now with the bat die-off we have even more of them. Although I swear you could hitch a ride on the back of any of the dragon flies around because they are gorging on the mosquitos.

Anyway, we want more bats by us because of the mosquitos but now your line about them being damaging…I am not so sure. How did they mess things up?

[j44ke]

Usually damage from bats is from their droppings - both staining and viral/bacterial/fungal issues.

Is your bat house painted black? In the NY-area that's the only way to get the bat box to reach bats' fairly high roosting temps. In summer, it is over 100F. Also the bat box should face due south and be at least 5' or more above any bushes and away from trees.

But really the sad part of bat houses is that the reason it is most difficult to get bats to use them is that there are not that many places where bats are common any longer.

[htwoopup]

Usually damage from bats is from their droppings - both staining and viral/bacterial/fungal issues.

Is your bat house painted black? In the NY-area that's the only way to get the bat box to reach bats' fairly high roosting temps. In summer, it is over 100F. Also the bat box should face due south and be at least 5' or more above any bushes and away from trees.

But really the sad part of bat houses is that the reason it is most difficult to get bats to use them is that there are not that many places where bats are common any longer.

What is interesting about that is that no, they weren’t painted black or face south but they were well above the bushes and away from the trees (one was on the wooden pole that the electric service to the house attaches to). BUT, the exact same bat houses from the same carpenter were hung ON trees (although pretty high up but the trees go a good 30 feet above them with branches and so on), not facing south and the same natural wood in the Quebec mountains and they did attract and hold bats.

But going to definitely try the paint and rehanging facing south this summer.

[j44ke]

What is interesting about that is that no, they weren’t painted black or face south but they were well above the bushes and away from the trees (one was on the wooden pole that the electric service to the house attaches to). BUT, the exact same bat houses from the same carpenter were hung ON trees (although pretty high up but the trees go a good 30 feet above them with branches and so on), not facing south and the same natural wood in the Quebec mountains and they did attract and hold bats.

But going to definitely try the paint and rehanging facing south this summer.

The caution against being near trees is for breeding season as brush and trees make it possible for predators to reach the house and eat the young bats. Some migratory species of bats do roost in hollow trees in fall and resident bats hibernate there in winter, so a bat house in a tree might be no different from a hollow limb.

[steve garro]

Who knows what environmental stuff happened but somehow there are a lot less of them.


Anyway, we want more bats by us because of the mosquitos but now your line about them being damaging…I am not so sure. How did they mess things up?

I know exactly what happened - WNS:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-nose_syndrome

What did they do?
Chewed holes from under the metal roof into the walls which they were chewing up & filling full with guano.
Was driving the Mrs bat-shit crazy as she actually had bats in her belfry and she could hear them chirp - I could not, but I have tinnitus

So, yeah = much of the East has WNS, we do not, theory is perhaps it's too dry, or that we don't have huge colonies to spend it among themselves, but yeah, the bats you are trying to attack are not showing up because of population collapse.
Check out the link.

- Garro.

[vertical_doug]

I know exactly what happened - WNS:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-nose_syndrome

What did they do?
Chewed holes from under the metal roof into the walls which they were chewing up & filling full with guano.
Was driving the Mrs bat-shit crazy as she actually had bats in her belfry and she could hear them chirp - I could not, but I have tinnitus

So, yeah = much of the East has WNS, we do not, theory is perhaps it's too dry, or that we don't have huge colonies to spend it among themselves, but yeah, the bats you are trying to attack are not showing up because of population collapse.
Check out the link.

- Garro.

Until some Spelunker from out east brings contaminated soil on their clothing and shoes transmitting it to the cave.

They metal gated some of the caves in NY to try to protect the local bat population.

[steve garro]

Until some Spelunker from out east brings contaminated soil on their clothing and shoes transmitting it to the cave.

That's the thing, some bats live in great congregations and others do not - many out here live singly or in small groups in trees and cracks in the many cliffs (indeed, Vermillion Cliffs NM is a biodiversity hotspot for bats - 19 known species) so we have less spread and also it's just too dry.

https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/adv...15/night-shift


- Garro.

[mnoble485]

658839C7-C666-4AB4-ADAD-A62DA3A55032.jpg

Mrs. Mnoble485 says “just give them something else to eat”.

Mike

[thollandpe]

Around here the cycle is water, bugs, birds. Wood gets wet, bugs eat the wood, woodpeckers hear the bugs and open up the assembly like a machine. Exception being carpenter bees, which drill into the dry wood and like the warm sunny spots.

The little downy woodpeckers here do like to make noise. There is one fascia board that resonates and I protected it with hardware cloth. During the pandemic those little peckerheads discovered that when the feeders run out of seed, they can bang on the house to get me to fill them.

The other pecker control measure we’ve implemented is leaving some standing deadwood in the yard. These dead trees are playgrounds for nuthatches, flickers, and woodpeckers — downy, red bellied, and the occasional pileated.

No holes in the house since evicting the carpenter bees.