Why are woodpeckers attacking cars and ruffling feathers of US homeowners?

USA Today

15-05-2025

Why are woodpeckers attacking cars and ruffling feathers of US homeowners?
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Dryocopus pileatus woodpecker damages vehicles in Riverlea village | Watch
Residents of Riverlea near Worthington are covering their car mirrors to prevent mating woodpeckers from cracking side mirrors.
Why would a woodpecker peck something other than wood?
And what would you do with a woodpecker whose pecking is perturbing, perplexing and property-damaging?
It's not a "Woody Woodpecker" episode. It's a real-life issue for some U.S. homeowners recently, who have been baffled by cracked car windshields and dinged side-view mirrors − only to find that the culprit is a neighborhood woodpecker getting a little too territorial with glass during mating season.
When Stephanie Gallucci of Riverlea, Ohio, approached her car on April 19 as she prepared to leave for work, she noticed a woodpecker clutching the rear driver's side window, she told The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network.
"Hey, buddy. I've got to drive somewhere. Can I have my car?" she asked. The colorful bird seemed annoyed, tightening its talons on the window frame and glaring at Gallucci. "Sorry to take your perch. But can I —" And with that, the pileated woodpecker flew off, retreating to a sycamore in her yard.
Gallucci had her car back − but she didn't realize that neighborhood feathers would be flying soon.
Feathered fiends: Unusual woodpecker species hammering Riverlea village cars with costly damage
A quiet community on woodpecker 'watch'
The day after her avian encounter, Gallucci noticed a cracked side mirror. She asked her husband, Neal, whether he knew anything about it. He didn't.
The family moved to Riverlea, a small village of 600 people in Central Ohio, two years ago. Its leafy setting along the Olentangy River made it the ideal site for the couple and their two children, 8 and 10, to appreciate nature.
Before the pair could clear space in their garage to protect their car from further damage, the feathered vandal struck again, taking out the other mirror, then a third mirror on the couple's other car. And they're not the only ones who've been hit by the chisel-beaked bandit. Their neighbors, too, said their cars' mirrors have also been damaged.
"The bird's pretty cool," Gallucci told the Columbus Dispatch. "But, yes, it's done some property damage. Now the neighborhood is on watch. We try to protect each others' cars."
Another tufted troublemaker in Massachusetts
And Central Ohio isn't the only place where woodpeckers are wreaking havoc on innocent autos: In a coastal Massachusetts town, another pileated woodpecker seems to be up to the same sort of mischief.
More than 20 vehicles have sustained damage in Rockport, Massachusetts, multiple outlets have reported. The birds, pileated woodpeckers with white stripes and a bright red crest, are North America's largest woodpeckers, as large as a crow (almost 20 inches long). It's the same species terrorizing, or at least annoying, the residents in Riverlea, Ohio.
A Rockport resident, Janelle Favaloro, dubbed the bird "the pileated pillager" in the New York Times. Another resident, Mike Foster, said the woodpecker damaged a tinted window on his Ford F-350 truck and, for its crimes, "is looking at 30 years to life right now."
Woodpeckers think reflections in mirrors are their rivals
Woodpeckers usually hammer on wood, making their distinctive noise, to proclaim their territory and to signal potential mates, according to AllAboutBirds.com. Usually, they stop in the spring, once the breeding season's started. Other reasons for the hammering: to excavate a nest or place to roost, to feed on insects inside the wood or to store food.
Jim McCormac, a wildlife photographer and specialist, told the Columbus Dispatch that woodpeckers may drum on reflective surfaces, like car mirrors or metal, because they think the reflection is a rival − and that is more prevalent during mating season. The metal makes the drumming louder, and thus more aggressive-sounding.
What should homeowners do about woodpeckers?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes that most birds are federally protected and the woodpecker is no different. So don't go swatting a feathered invader with a broom or plotting a troublesome bird's demise; instead, try some diversionary tactics.
The residents in both Massachusetts and Ohio said they've started covering their car mirrors with plastic bags to keep birds from seeing − and reacting aggressively to − their reflections. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers other tips as well, including immediately filling in and painting any holes the birds hammer into wood on houses and other structures. If there's an active nest, wait until midsummer, when the young birds have left.
Netting along eves, models of owls and hawks, spinners and windsocks can all be used (sometimes with varying success) to scare off woodpeckers. Recorded woodpecker distress calls or raptor calls can also repel the birds.
Contributing: Dean Narciso, The Columbus Dispatch