{"id":19281,"date":"2017-01-07T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-01-07T16:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=19281"},"modified":"2017-01-07T08:47:41","modified_gmt":"2017-01-07T16:47:41","slug":"soffit-pecking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=19281","title":{"rendered":"Soffit pecking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It\u00a0is a mystery: Why are woodpeckers attacking the soffits of my home now that it is cold out?<\/p>\n<p>About the only time I had previously seen woodpeckers attack my home was in\u00a0the spring when male Northern Flickers\u00a0hammer on the metal flange of\u00a0the chimney. They have discovered that thin metal provides a more impressive sound than does a tree and so more effectively demonstrate prowess to a potential mate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet, a couple of weeks ago, a Pileated Woodpecker made a racket\u00a0as it probed under the chimney&#8217;s flange. As it was making a clatter at my chimney on Christmas morning, and as it wore a red cap, I succumbed to the temptation to suggest this was actually\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=19248\">Santa Claus<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I thought nothing more of it. But then,\u00a0a male Pileated Woodpecker returned and\u00a0probed a\u00a0soffit for comestibles. A few hours later a Northern Flicker did likewise. After years of not bothering to look for arthropods in my siding, why were woodpeckers suddenly taking an interest in the house?<\/p>\n<p>Throughout this period, it has been cold. Woodpeckers have probed trees, pilings, and utility poles during other winters, but what is it about the wooden siding of a house that attracts them now? I don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n<p>A Pileated Woodpecker probes for grubs along the soffit of my home.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-19283\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/pileatedwoodpecker170105s.jpg\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A few hours later, a Northern Flicker does likewise.<br \/>\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-19282\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/flicker170105s.jpg\" alt=\"\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; It\u00a0is a mystery: Why are woodpeckers attacking the soffits of my home now that it is cold out? About the only time I had previously seen woodpeckers attack my home was in\u00a0the spring when male Northern Flickers\u00a0hammer on the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=19281\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19281"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19310,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19281\/revisions\/19310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}