I was awakened by a terrific banging...
It's that time of year again here in the Pacific Northwest. That time of year when simple, honest homeowners such as yours truly are terrorised from slumber by Irony Metalpecker and his headbanging pals. How can such a small bird, the flicker, produce so much noise? I'm not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that it quite literally sounds like somebody is trying to break into the house through the roof with a jackhammer. If they were just woodpeckers, I think I could live with it, but what's attracting them to the noisy, metal parts of the roof?
Why don't they have headaches all the time?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Rids us of bugs plus being an alarm clock. 
decide to see whether he could bore through the metal lining of the fireplace chimney...the chimney was not an external one, but rather ran 24 ft. from floor to ceiling in a great room...in house that had mostly tile and wood flooring....The noise bounced around ferociously, making our ears bleed, until we finally just lit a fire.... 
he had already been at the frame of the pool enclosure and had severely damaged a $700. Screw Pine we had just planted the year before. I was ready to fry his butt if need be! They can be very destructive...don't let him stay up there too long. 
Woodpeckers don't tear up trees just for fun. They are going after the insects living in the bark or wood.
Their territorial pecking is done on whatever is most resonant and resounding. The more tentative tapping is them going after the bugs.
Today the pileated woodpeckers that live here were declaring their territory. One claimed one of the light fixtures on the arena - it hollow aluminum shell makes a lovely tone that carries a long way. The one closer to the house on the other hand found a more traditional sounding board - a partly hollow branch on a lightning killed loblolly pine tree. His pecking made a solid "THONK" that was similar to a bat hitting a baseball. They carried on for an hour or so until a female happened by. Watching three of those huge birds chasing each other around a stand of tree is impressive as all get out!
This shot I took through the window of the front door (that's why it a little blurry) a few months back is probably one of those guys:
it was just that he was determined to simply demolish the highest branch of the Screw Pine by boring a huge hole in the trunk beneath where that branch met the trunk. Screw Pines can be really interesting looking trees...but after that branch had to be removed it was never as appealing. Of course the smoke drove him out of the chimney... and I was happy when he finally decided to leave for parts unknown.
They are beautiful birds which is why I wouldn't let the 'ex' shoot him but our property line ended at a protected 'wetlands/bird sanctuary' with thousands of trees and I wish he had stayed there!
Yeah, that was not entirely uninentional
I stole that line from Woody (ha!) Allen.
