Woodpeckers

Lori Mellon posted a message from Victoria Montana Ryan concerning
woodpeckers and historic buildings.

In my experience, woodpeckers attack buildings because they are
after insect larvae that are in the wood.  Thus, they are a
secondary problem.

The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) has a pest management training
video "Structural Inspections--A Way of Managing Wood Inhabiting
Insects" that addresses this problem.  In the video, the woodpeckers
are after the carpenter bee larvae.  This 24 minute video was
produced in 1985 and is distributed by the National Park Foundation
(sorry, I don't have an address or telephone number).  My copy of
the video has a phone number for the Vegetation and Wildlife
Division of the NPS, however, with their reorganization, I am not
sure whether this is a correct number.  Perhaps someone on the list
can provide additional information.

All members of the woodpecker family are protected by U.S. federal
law and by law in most (U.S.) states.  Thus control strategies will
need to be developed that do not harm these birds.

Other references:

    Olkowski, W., S. Daar, and H. Olkowski,  Common Sense Pest
    Control,  The Taunton Press, 1991.

        While there is no specific chapter on woodpeckers, they are
        addressed in chapter 24, Carpenter Ants and Carpenter Bees.
        (pp. 451-453)  (note: carpenter bees are considered
        beneficial insects--see this reference)

    Mallis, A. Handbook of Pest Control,  Franzak & Foster.

        I have the sixth edition, copyright 1982.  At least one new
        edition has been published since then.  Anyway, my edition
        addresses woodpeckers on pp. 855-857.

    The Bio-Integral Resource Center, P.O. Box 7414, Berkeley, CA
    94707 Tel: 510-524-2567 is an excellent resource for Integrated
    Pest Management information.  They also may be able to provide
    additional information (Note: William & Helga Olkowski and
    Sheila Daar are associated with this organization.

Hope this is useful.  Good luck,

Wendy Claire Jessup
President and Conservator
Wendy Jessup and Associates, Inc.
210 Little Falls Street, Suite 203
Falls Church, VA   22046  USA
703-532-0788
Fax: 703-532-1661

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:37
                 Distributed: Friday, October 17, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-37-002
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