Windows series 5: Woodpeckers and wood buildings

Guisachan Heritage Park in Kelowna - Milk shed window, woodpecker holes, and nest.

I visited and photographed some of the buildings at Guisachan Heritage Park today.  Given that my current blogs have been on window photos, I thought I would take some images of those very structures on my excursion.  I came across one that was particularly interesting in that it was nearby evidence of woodpecker activity.

You can see just to the left of the above woodpecker nesting hole; there are two holes, likely created by woodpeckers in their bid to extract insects, that have been covered up with something like chicken wire.  This is a problem that some buildings with wooden exteriors have.  Woodpeckers can detect the presence of insects underneath bark or even further into the wood of the tree.  They detect would-be meals by hearing the insect activity, by sensing their vibrations, and by smelling them (albeit to a lesser extent).

What's interesting is that the insects may not actually be inside the layers of wood making up the exterior of the building.  Instead, the insects seek protection behind the wood and live between the siding and whatever backs it.  I had a conversation with a BC parks maintenance man about woodpecker holes in the cedar siding of some site buildings in the park.  I thought it was strange that the birds would be creating holes in the wood as cedar is not host to many insects.  He said that the insects were behind the cedar between the plywood and the planks.

My research tells me that the chicken fencing installed the way it is does little to prevent the woodpeckers from insect hunting.  Rather, the entire siding should be covered with at least a 3 inch space between the fencing and the building to prevent them from reaching the wood at all.  Although this may be effective, I can see not wanting to do that to a historical building as it would likely affect the display status.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com