You might see carpenter bees creating their nest on your household wooden material. After a few days, you notice woodpeckers start pecking your house. Is this because of the presence of carpenter bees?
Do Woodpeckers eat Carpenter bees? Yes, woodpecker loves to eat carpenter bees. Carpenter bee larvae are their most favorite food. This is the major reason why woodpeckers start pecking your house.
Throughout this post, I will discuss the reason behind woodpecker eats carpenter bees. Also, I will discuss the fact of woodpeckers or carpenter bees which is better for the environment.
What Do Woodpeckers Eat?
Woodpeckers are omnivores they eat a variety of items. They eat from vegetables to small living creatures. They can eat leaves, fruits, larvae of different creatures, carpenter bees, spiders, small rats, bird’s eggs, etc.
Woodpecker does not like to work hard to manage their meal. They follow the theory and work less and gain more. So, they won’t prey on any hard riching foods until it is a carpenter bees.
They will be satisfied with any food they can catch easily. They will collect and eat whatever they can gather without working hard.
Why Do Woodpeckers Eat Carpenter Bees?
I already told you woodpeckers eat carpenter bees. You might have the question why do woodpeckers eat carpenter bees? This is because carpenter bee larvae are rich in protein and fat. Carpenter bee larvae are the favorite meal for woodpeckers because of their high protein intake.
Carpenter bee larvae also contain vitamins and minerals. So, this is undoubtedly a great source of all kinds of nutrients for woodpeckers. That’s why woodpecker loves to eat carpenter bees and carpenter bee larvae.
Though carpenter bees are the favorite food for woodpeckers, they won’t depend only on carpenter bees. Woodpeckers will be happy having any sort of food that is easy to get. They will like any insect, fruit, vegetable whatever they can get easily.
But if they find the source of carpenter bees they will try their best to get it.
Why Do Woodpeckers Start Pecking A House?
Woodpeckers usually start pecking a house for food sources or to create their nest. Yes, woodpeckers prefer to create their nest in a tree rather than in a house. But if they don’t find any suitable tree to create their nest they may target your house.
But their main target of pecking a house is because of food sources. They might find any suitable food they like to eat inside the wood. That’s why they are pecking the wood to get that food. This can be any insect that woodpeckers eat.
But the most common reason why woodpeckers start pecking a house is because of carpenter bees. Usually, carpenter bees like to create a nest inside any wooden material.
They bore holes inside the wood in a perfect round shape to create their nest. Usually, the diameter of any carpenter’s bee hole is around half an inch. After creating the hole carpenter bee start digging more holes in both sides inside the wood.
After creating a few holes the mother carpenter bee starts laying eggs in those holes. From these eggs carpenter bee larvae are born that attract the woodpeckers most.
A woodpecker can easily determine the presence of carpenter bee larvae in any nearby place. When they identify the location of the carpenter bee nest they try their best to get the bee and its larvae. If the carpenter bee larvae is very deep inside the hole the woodpecker will start pecking the wood.
That is the main reason why woodpeckers usually start pecking a house. Carpenter bees usually create their nest in a household material during spring. So, during spring and early summer, woodpeckers are more likely to start pecking your house.
How To Prevent Woodpeckers from Pecking Your House?
The first step to prevent woodpeckers from pecking your house should be preventing carpenter bees from digging wood. You can easily identify carpenter bee holes by observing them carefully. You may see wood shave around the hole. Also, the hole is a perfectly round shape with a diameter of around half an inch.
Besides preventing the presence of carpenter bees in wood, you can take the following steps to prevent woodpeckers from pecking your house.
- Plant trees near your house: Woodpeckers can dig your house if they don’t find any trees nearby. So, planting trees around your house will prevent woodpeckers from creating a nest in your house. Because woodpecker likes to create their nest on the tree.
- Place Reflecting Element In front of your house: Woodpecker likes to avoid shiny things like reflections of light. So, placing a mirror or CD in front of your house will reflect the sunlight or other lights that will deter the woodpeckers from attacking your house.
- Block Potential Nesting Sites: Make sure there are no cracks or holes in your house. Holes or cracks can be made by carpenter bees or other insects. That can be a strong reason why woodpeckers can start pecking your house.
- Call For Specialist: If woodpeckers become a real threat to your home then call for a certified wildlife control professional. Because you can’t kill birds, it’s illegal. Only licensed animal removal specialists or wildlife control professionals can take birds or animals away from your house.
Woodpecker Vs Carpenter Bees Which One Is Better?
There are so many benefits of both woodpeckers and carpenter bees for our nature. But both of them have some negative impact on our livelihoods too.
The following table shows the benefits and negative impact of Woodpeckers Vs Carpenter bees for us.
| Woodpeckers | Carpenter Bees |
|---|---|
| 1. Woodpeckers eat various types of insects that can be harmful to us. | 1. Carpenter bees also participate in pollination like honey bees. So, they play an important role to increase plants. |
| 2. Woodpeckers can eat pests and parasites and some kinds of dust. So, having woodpeckers in your region will keep your region clean. | 2. Carpenter bees also participate in the biological food chain by providing food sources to birds and predators. |
| 3. Woodpeckers also can make negative effects too. They can cause damage to your house. So, you should take the necessary steps to protect your household from woodpeckers. | 3. Carpenter bees cause damage to household wooden materials as they create their nest inside woods. They also can be responsible for inviting other harmful predators like woodpeckers and other birds. |
Both woodpeckers and carpenter bees can be beneficial for our environment. Both can cause damage to our household too. So, we should take the necessary steps to prevent these two creatures from causing damage to our household.
As woodpeckers eat carpenter bees and other harmful pests and parasites. I would like to say woodpeckers play a more important role than carpenter bees in our environment.
But both of them will help us to balance our ecosystem if we allow them to live in trees and other locations. Just we have to make sure these two creature doesn’t cause any harm to our household materials.
Now you can check my article on how do you protect your Drywall from bees.