Woodpeckers back in B.C., while Hat buildings spared so far

By Gillian Slade on March 15, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

Woodpeckers are still pecking out little round holes for nests but they’ve branched out from telephone poles and trees.

The stucco finish on Styrofoam facades is enticing northern flickers to create cosy nests, but it is a nuisance and expense for building owners.

In May 2014, there was an invasion of these birds at the buildings just off Strachan near Walmart. The northern flickers made their nests in the facade, spilling out little balls of Styrofoam onto the sidewalks. As baby birds hatched, droppings increased just where people were walking.

It looked as though the situation was under control with the holes plugged with insulation that fall.

B.C. thought the same until this year.

The Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre, in the North Okanagan city of Vernon, also had an issue in 2014 when 190 holes were made on one side of the building. Some remedial action was taken in 2014 but now the woodpeckers are back.

According to a Canadian Press story, the birds hear a hollow sound when tapping on the stucco-covered Styrofoam facades. That indicates an ideal place to make a hole.

There is no sign of the woodpeckers arriving in Medicine Hat again — yet. Staff in some of the offices affected in 2014 told the News this week that so far this year there has not been that familiar sound of tapping.

Both sexes of the northern flicker woodpeckers, about the size of a robin, help to make the nest that generally has an entrance hole of about 7 cm in diametre. The cavity can be up to 30 cm deep, and it widens at the bottom to make room for eggs and the incubating adult, according to Wikipedia.

Woodpecker Styrofoam housing is not a new thing. Online there are reports of it happening in Calgary years ago. There are homeowners who have been battling the problem and tell their stories online.

Stefan van der Wal in the Netherlands wrote a thesis about it almost two decades ago.

“The most expensive example of woodpecker damage was in 1995 to Space Shuttle Discovery,” reads the thesis. “At least 135 holes were drilled in the foam insulation of the fuel tank of the spacecraft and as a result it had to be rolled back to the assembly building.”

The cost of replacing the foam insulation was about a million dollars, according to Van der Wal.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Construction Material Centre said he was not aware of any related warnings, regulations, proposed Code changes, or any other means of addressing the issue.

It remains to be seen whether the woodpeckers will be returning to their old haunt in Medicine Hat this spring.

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