When Woodpeckers Attack

Last week I woke up to the sound of incessant hammering. Thinking it was an inconsiderate noisy neighbour I went to my back window to spy on them, but was surprised to find that the annoying sound was actually coming from above my window. Being so early in the morning, I decided to ignore it and head back to bed, but when I got home from work that evening I took a look outside and found that a woodpecker had pecked a hole the size of a fist in the siding of my attic! Sigh.

Thanks to the power of the internets I was able to do some quick research on woodpeckers. Apparently they're very territorial so once you have one stakes is high. Your best bet is to get rid of them quickly so they don't get too attached to trying to knock down your house. Another tidbit I gathered was that woodpeckers no-like-a shiny things or anything that ruins that sweet sweet sound of banging your head on wood. In full on MacGyver mode I ended up crawling up into the attic and patching the hole with some wadded up aluminum foil and then nailing a metal sign up over the hole. So far I haven't heard back from my feathery friend, but I'm not yet convinced it's time to declare victory (especially since I've still got to figure out a more permanent way to fix that darned hole).