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The Pileated Wood Pecker and the Hydro Electric Pole
Here is a story of
persistence! Unbelievable PERSISTENCE!
As we drove south of
Peterborough on Sunday evening, heading to Cobourg, I saw the critters for the first
time. There high on the huge, new Ontario Hydro Electric Poll was a Pileated
Wood Pecker in plain view. However he wasn’t moving around or even pecking his beak
back and forth on the wood. He was just looking at the pole.
It was a dummy wood
pecker! Of all things… imagine a
Pileated Wood Pecker dummy mounted up on the high pole not far from the wires.
I have seen many of the Nest
Platforms in our area made especially for the Osprey that has that huge wing
span and will often have chosen the pole top with its three line wires to
situate their nests. The Nest Platform provides a safe placed for the Osprey to
have a place to build their nests… and their wing span then does not touch the
three wires when they take off and land. A touch of these wires is an automatic
fry job for the bird and damage for the power line.
But a Pileated Wood Pecker is
not as big as the Osprey. And the Wood
Pecker doesn’t nest on a Power Pole!
Why is it there? But there wasn’t one but quite a few along the
new power line and poles.
Doing a search on the Internet
I found the amazing story about this silly bird.
Elizabeth
LeGeyt’s web posting tells more about what is happening and what Ontario
Hydro is trying to do about the problem with Pileated Wood Peckers.
Her
account is showing Dave Roger’s story in the Ottawa Citizen entitled “Hydro hopes decoys will curb appetite for
destruction”
In the article this photo was
shown. It was taken by Colleen Todd from Cedar Cove Resort on White Lake. What an amazing shot!
As you can easily see the
Pileated Wood Pecker(on the right) is not one bit miffed by the Fake Dude on
the left side of the pole. He is steadily
pecking a considerable hole in the pole.
Why does it do this?
One suggestion is that the new
and solidly planted pole makes good sounds as the wood pecker raps on the pole.
It is a new pole and pressure treated $3000 pole – there are no bugs in
it. BUT it sounds good so he pounds away
at the pole.
Other than making the whole
pole out of rubber or coating it in rubber – the sound will still be there.
One suggestion is also surmised
by other bird experts. The Telephone Poles are also drilled into by wood
peckers. It is suggested that the hum in the wires is translated into the pole
making the wood pecker think it is a bug in the pole… so he just has to peck
the pole… and make a hole.
Poles with holes are not safe –
they tend to break off and the weight of the wire harness in a storm will snap
off the top of the pole. When that
happens all the people down line from the wood pecker’s hole – have their
lights turned off!!!
Pileated Wood Peckers and Power
Poles are a problem!
What would be your solution to
this dilemma?
How about somehow putting in a
pole speaker that is attached to a Classical Radio station. Classical Music doesn’t have the same beat…
and the wood pecker will vamoose! That
sound coming up the pole will drive them nuts!
I have watched teenagers
sitting at the next table in a fast food restaurant recently with his ear-buds
in and bobbing his head to the music being pumped into his head. He was also
tapping the table loudly with his hands – doing kind of a airband drummer
thing.
Maybe Pileated Wood Peckers
are really teenagers with the music inside.
If they are – not much will phase them… !!!
Can you imagine placing a Fake
Teenager at the next booth in the fast Food restaurant to keep the drumming
teens away? Too phoney and funny!
I wish the Ontario Hydro Line
guys luck with this one. And I also
thank them for giving me something more to look out for on my longer drives.
~ Murray Lincoln ~
Resources:
http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/features/birds/story.html?id=ad32be11-834f-4076-82dc-d785c2db765f
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