I Hear You Knocking but You Can’t Come In

We had a wonderful Victoria Day weekend up the lake. When we arrived, the first thing we did was check out back. In addition to wood chips on the deck there was now pink insulation. Obviously our reflective device and boarding up the hole didn’t do the trick.

John’s mother, Helen, suggested painting large yellow and black owl eyes. This tactic worked when there was a woodpecker invasion at John’s #1 cabin. We got out two aluminum pans and my paints to quickly create two scary owls. Wayne went back up the ladder and to nail up more boards to recover the hole and install the two guard owls. For the rest of the day, all was quiet.

At 5:30 the next morning we heard someone knocking. We get unexpected guests at our cabin, but never at this ungodly hour. Obviously, this woodpecker isn’t afraid of owls, at least the aluminum pan variety. And now there are two, one sitting watch on the roof and one doing the drilling. Nest building is in full swing, and it seems that no other place will do. We spent the rest of the morning shooing our uninvited guests away. When there was no more activity in the afternoon, we thought we had won. But at 5:30 the next morning they were at it again, hammering away. At least long enough to wake us up to shoo them away. Back up the ladder Wayne went. This time we nailed another aluminum pan over the hole and two more to hang in front to discourage landing.

At 5:30 this morning we heard a large bird fly under the eves over our bedroom window, but no rat-a-tat-tat. Maybe we have finally won the battle. A few minutes later, Wayne said he heard the distinctive sound from across the bay. Hopefully it is at one of the dead trees in the bush and not a neighbor’s cabin. -- Margy