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The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

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The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

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In California, a pest control company recently dealt with an outrageous affair. People called for help, saying that there seemed to be more and more bugs near their house, and the sound of woodpeckers making holes could always be heard. Residents with question marks had to call in professional handlers to see what was going on in their house.

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

? The home seems to have been stolen, but I don't know who did it|Giphy

Locally, woodpeckers and residents often struggle with each other, and the surface of the houses they live in has become the target of woodpeckers. In spring, woodpeckers make rhythmic "click-click" pecking sounds on wood, water pipes, aluminum plates and vents to claim their territory and find mates.

In April~May, woodpeckers during the breeding season start to make holes in your wall again in order to build their nests. If your siding has insects and pupae, they will also use your home as a good choice for feeding.

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

Find a hole to settle down the woodpecker. |Wiki

But in addition, the most common behavior of the acorn woodpecker that does not eat insects in human housing is actually to store its "property" - acorns. Some wealthy acorn woodpeckers even peck out hundreds of holes, each with an acorn embedded in it. Food stored in trees is less likely to be stolen by other animals such as squirrels, equivalent to their own "private bank".

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

Woodpeckers must not be secret terrorists | Cornell Lab of Ornithology/youtube

Sometimes, acorn woodpeckers also have shared banks, where a flock of birds store acorns on the same tree (or pole) and communicate with each other about today's harvest in waka-waka voices. Whether you can find a partner in the spring depends on these food supplies that are enough to survive the winter. And the baby woodpecker born next year will soon join the work of building the "granary" to maintain the family's food reserves.

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

Cornell Lab of Ornithology/youtube

According to the experience of pest control treatment personnel, it is likely that the abnormality in the room this time is due to woodpeckers storing food. So he made a hole in the wall on the second floor of the room, tried to pull out the acorn, and then repair the wall that had been destroyed by the bird.

However, the sight after the opening of the hole stunned everyone: a steady stream of acorns poured out like a flood and poured out of the hole. People tried to clear the acorns outside the cave, but found that they could not control it, and the acorns not only covered the ground, but also piled up into a hill.

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

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The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

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In the end, a total of more than 600 pounds of acorns, people packed 8 large garbage bags before finally cleaning up.

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

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Even harder than cleaning the acorns, though, is repairing the room. During the woodpecker's storage of acorns, the walls were also severely damaged, not only the walls and chimneys were holes, but the walls were also covered with various destroyed structures and rat droppings.

In a later investigation, handlers speculated that the house was scarred. The woodpecker thought it would be nice to dig a hole to hide the acorns, but the hollow wall allowed the stored acorns to fall in. People think that with so many acorns, you can't save them without working hard for three or five years. The millionaires of the woodpecker world, who have worked so hard to save food for so long, have been cleaned up by all humans. It is difficult to say whether the man's home was stolen or the woodpecker's home was stolen.

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

? It's hard to rate

In the end, the resident had to make a complete repair to the house and replace it with new vinyl siding to prevent woodpeckers from making holes again. And this "millionaire" is estimated to have to start a new life.

This story may be an extreme exception, but in fact, the people who live in the suburban woodlands with woodpeckers have suffered greatly. Not only houses, but also wooden poles, eaves or various wood ornaments give woodpeckers many opportunities to drill.

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

Cornell's Department of Natural Resources also investigated a number of novel ways to drive away woodpeckers, such as putting a large plastic dummy owl and flapping its paper wings to deter woodpeckers. The Brid Pro speaker system plays the sound of a woodpecker being killed, as well as the call of an eagle, to scare off woodpeckers.

People also made a feeder for woodpeckers, using professional food to attract birds to avoid damage to the house, but unexpectedly, food brought not only birds, but also squirrels, and woodpeckers destroyed the siding more seriously.

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

They tried to use this fake owl to deter woodpeckers. | Reference 5

After investigation, the researchers found that the most effective method was not complicated, but the simplest of them, which was to hang shiny decorations on the house, or paint the house with colored or white paint. Houses close to earthy colors suffered the most damage.

But what's wrong with the acorn woodpecker? Nature experts believe that since humans occupy the original living space of woodpeckers, plant a layer of pine trees for them in the nearby woods to provide them with enough drilling sites.

Woodpeckers may be the biggest losers

The millionaire of the woodpecker world was destitute overnight! Just because of trusting humans too much

Woodpecker: What about my meal?

Resources

[1]https://www.thedodo.com/daily-dodo/guy-cuts-hole-in-wall-and-is-shocked-by-what-comes-pouring-out

[2]https://www.npr.org/2023/02/08/1155458695/woodpeckers-700-pounds-acorns-in-wall-home

[3] https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/storing-food-the-granaries-of-acorn-woodpeckers/

[4]https://www.kqed.org/science/1925251/youd-never-guess-what-an-acorn-woodpecker-eats#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20point%20of%20storing%20the,from%20deer%2C%20squirrels%20and%20jays.

[5] Harding, Emily G., Sandra L. Vehrencamp, and Paul D. Curtis. "External characteristics of houses prone to woodpecker damage." Human-Wildlife Conflicts 3.1 (2009): 136-144.

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