I think I told you about the northern flicker that was trying to drill a hole in our house, yes? In the vast majority of cases, the flickers will drum away at something to make a lot of noise and attract a mate. Along the lines of: "Hey! Look at me! I am the loudest, most awesome male flicker in the entire hood. Check out my handiwork!"
Judging by the hole that our little fella drilled, I'm sure that female flickers for miles around were begging for his attention.
This female, however, was not impressed. As much as I like flickers, I don't take kindly to folks messing with my house. And I don't want them roosting in my attic. Especially since just about anything (starlings, rats, mice, etc) could have easily climbed through the apple-sized hole.
Time for action.
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| Hey look, I can fit my entire camera lens out through the hole. This is so not funny. |
I nailed a piece of sheet metal over the hole. The flicker watched intently from the maple tree. "So she thinks she can cover up my handiwork, does she? As soon as she leaves, I'll make the biggest damn hole ever made by one of my kind. We flickers don't frighten easily".
Two minutes after I left, an enormous twaat tat tat erupted from the side of the house. Evidently our flicker was insulted by my metal addition and decided to resume his drilling. Metal, however, it a bit tougher than wood and Mr. Flicker just about reverberated himself off the side of the house after his exploratory tap tap on the metal.
And then, blessed silence.
