Why do flickers drum

I was home alone in a new neighborhood. The noise would stop and start again without warning, and I had no idea what caused it. Then, after hearing the call of a male Northern Flicker , I went outside and caught him in the act of drumming on a vent pipe, pounding his beak on the metal with the rapidity of a machine gun. This was my introduction to life with flickers. Drumming often occurs in the early hours of the morning and is loud enough to awaken even a sound sleeper.

After reading my previous blog post about the Great Backyard Bird Count , someone left a comment expressing the frustration many people feel when living with these often misunderstood birds. This inspired me to do some research so I could share helpful information with my readers. There is no question that flickers drum on wood to reach food or create a nest cavity. And scientists believe this behavior also serves to attract or communicate with mates and to establish territories. Or maybe they just like the noise.

My husband pointed out that in our neighborhood, he has noticed that they seem attracted to horizontal trim boards on houses, convenient places to perch if they want to drum on exterior walls. Both sexes drum, and with their mating season beginning in mid-March and lasting into June, we will soon hear more performances by these little percussionists. In addition to vent pipes, they love metal gutters, chimney caps, dead trees, buildings, stop signs, and anything else that resonates and amplifies their efforts.

The sound might irritate you, but that is minor compared to the actual physical damage these members of the woodpecker family can cause to buildings. But before you start thinking of these beautiful birds as nothing but pests, please consider their side.

A little understanding and education might make you appreciate them more and be bothered by them less. Flickers have the same right to live here as we do and much of their habitat has been destroyed by humans.

As part of nature's perfect plan, they carry out an important role by eating insects, and the cavities they create in trees serve as homes for other creatures. You can benefit too. If you notice them pecking holes in your siding, be grateful. Their activity could be the first clue that you have an insect infestation in your house.

Smart homeowners will take action quickly if this happens, to prevent serious damage by both insects and birds and to keep those holes from signaling the presence of food to even more flickers. The flickers in my yard have never made holes in the house, maybe because we offer them plenty of suet, a small price to pay for the opportunity to enjoy their great beauty and interesting behaviors.

They can easily be spotted all year 'round here in the Pacific Northwest and I see them daily. We have many feeders for many types of birds, and it's interesting to see what happens when they mingle. The four panels are 28 g steel, aluminum flashing, plexiglass and cedar. A cedar drum has also been mounted on a flicker nest box and on the barn wall. Barn swallow nest cups.

A new barn swallow shelter for Starling traps. Using blinds in the home habitat. Providing perches for birds. Providing snags for wildlife. The ugly young maple. Oftentimes, the first courtship activity in which birds engage is singing. Unlike many smaller bird species we observe in our yards, woodpeckers do not have singing voices that they use to attract mates. Rather woodpeckers use repeated rhythmic pecking known as drumming to broadcast their territory and attract a mate.

Louder drumming better serves its needs, so woodpeckers often times search out surfaces such as metal gutters, chimney tops, or wooden shingles that resound nicely. Fortunately, the woodpecker is not intending to make a hole, so while annoying, drumming usually does not damage the home. The same cannot be said if a Flicker is pecking on a home with the intent of excavating a cavity for nesting or roosting.

Unlike drumming, pecking to excavate a cavity tends to be irregular and arrhythmic in nature, and the birds will be making a visible hole. The Northern Flicker is a primary cavity nester, which means that it will excavate its own cavity to use for nesting or roosting.

In nature, Flickers use standing dead trees in which they excavate their cavity. These snags can be in rather short supply, especially near cities and towns where they tend to be viewed as a hazard or an eyesore and are cut down.

Unfortunately, wood siding, as well as hardiplank and even stucco, can be viewed by Flickers as suitable surfaces in which to excavate a cavity. One of the best ways to stop Flicker damage to a structure is to put up an appropriately sized bird house.