[HN Gopher] How to Recognize Woodpeckers by Their Drumming Sounds
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       How to Recognize Woodpeckers by Their Drumming Sounds
        
       Author : jamesriso
       Score  : 34 points
       Date   : 2025-04-08 20:00 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.allaboutbirds.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.allaboutbirds.org)
        
       | quercusa wrote:
       | There's nothing quite like the sound of a flicker hammering on a
       | downspout at 4 am!
        
         | caseyohara wrote:
         | I have nuthatches that peck and bore large holes in my cedar
         | siding in the spring to nest. They showed up about two weeks
         | ago and they'll be here through summer.
         | 
         | The sound is obnoxious and they've basically destroyed my
         | house. I've tried everything to keep them away but they are
         | tenacious. We're currently saving up to reside the house with
         | Hardie Board; I think that's the only solution.
        
       | 0x0203 wrote:
       | Not listed is the red-bellied woodpecker. I've got one of them
       | that drums on my gutters just outside my home office window every
       | day. Multiple times a day. Fast, evenly spaced drumming with no
       | variation or fall-off. Lasts 1-3 seconds. Maybe not quite as fast
       | as the flicker, but close.
       | 
       | I thought he was putting holes in my house for a while until I
       | figured out what he was doing. I have a lot of flickers around
       | too, but don't hear them drumming very often.
        
         | rsolva wrote:
         | Yeah, we got these red-bellied wodpeckers here, knocking on the
         | metal top of the poles of the electricity lines. Since the main
         | inlet is connect to a wall in our bed room, they wake us up
         | early in the morning by their drumming, resonationg through the
         | electricity lines from near and far.
         | 
         | It have spent hours, half aslep, pondering what that sound
         | could be, it took quite a while before I found the origin!
        
       | p1mrx wrote:
       | You could also try the BirdNET app: https://birdnet.cornell.edu/
        
       | tiahura wrote:
       | Given how much time they spend pecking my metal chimney cap, they
       | seem like they must be one of the dumber birds.
        
         | CommieBobDole wrote:
         | According to the article, the drumming sound they make is for
         | communication; pecking to find food is relatively quiet.
         | 
         | He's drumming on the metal chimney cap because it's the loudest
         | thing he can find.
        
           | weard_beard wrote:
           | But what's he saying? What's in that tiny bird brain worth
           | going on about at 4am? Cats? Smoke? Food? Bird problems,
           | amirighht?
        
       | zabzonk wrote:
       | I loved hearing then in Hampstead Woods in North London, and also
       | along the New River - but it was quite difficult to see the
       | little buggers. I did have a spotted one come to our bird table
       | in Lincoln UK some years ago, and my little brother who lives
       | near Grantham quite often sees them.
        
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       (page generated 2025-04-08 23:00 UTC)