North Woods Guides Blog

Posts Tagged ‘woodpeckers’

Bird Feeders & Carpenter Bees

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

I learned the hard way this winter about bird feeders. I have been building a house for the past few years and decided this winter to put some hanging feeders on the porch. They had side trays built into them for suet which I figured was a good feature since the suet would last longer than the bird seed between fillings.  The problem was the house is pretty much all wood exterior and wood attracts carpenter bees and suet attracts wood peckers. The combination of bees, woodpeckers and suet has turned into a major headache. The woodpeckers have been having a field day tearing my beams and rafters apart.  A few weeks back I eliminated the suet all together but yet the woodpeckers know the bees are there now so they still come back.  Pecking and hacking and pecking and hacking my once pretty beautiful house apart.  Had I never put the suet out to attract them I’m pretty sure they would never have discovered the carpenter bees in the first place.  Another lesson learned in life albeit an expensive one.  My advice  forget the suet unless you have vinyl siding.

Happy Hiking!!


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