Yes, those lovely colorful and large woodpeckers can cause a lot of damage to the siding of a house. The good news is that such woodpecker activity is most probably not an indication of insect activity in the siding or the walls of the house. The woodpeckers are most probably listening to the 60 cycle hum created by the electrical system and mistake that hum for insect noises. One of these birds has even been working on the top of a power pole on my street for a while now.

Persuading our feathered friends to move to a near by dead and/or insect infested tree is a bit of a challenge. Here are few suggestions:

• temporarily cover the area being damaged with a piece of tin foil or other metal material (they don't seem to like those surfaces);

• hang some plastic owls or balloons with big eyes painted on them near the area of the damage (you local pest control supply house should carry these items); and,

• string some thin wires across the area being damaged (they don't like to fly into those wires).

These methods will tend to work quite well. It might also help to have a camera at the ready or invite some bird watching friends over - I have found that such activity is a guarantee against seeing the wildlife in question.

George