The aim of this page is to teach you exactly how to get rid of woodpeckers on stucco.
Woodpeckers can cause quite a bit of damage when they decide to peck on stucco. This material is very easy for the woodpecker to penetrate and can cause quite a mess! The key to preventing stucco damage is through the use of an effective woodpecker deterrent.
Below I will show you how to get rid of woodpeckers on stucco using these 6 awesome woodpecker deterrents:
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Use Visual Deterrents
The use of a visual deterrent should be the first step in deterring woodpeckers. This is the least expensive and often most effective method to woodpecker removal. These products utilize reflective materials to scare woodpeckers away.
The best visual deterrents in my opinion are bird repellent discs, bird repellent tape, and bird repellent balloons. These items are very shiny and do a great job at scaring woodpeckers away. Of these three products, my favorite one is the bird repellent discs. These discs reflect a ton of light and also look very pretty hanging from your house. However, all three products are very effective at deterring woodpeckers. Try one of these three before moving on!
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Use an Electronic Woodpecker Repellent
The use of an electronic woodpecker repellent is a very effective means for scaring woodpeckers. These devices emit natural distress calls which frighten the birds and cause them to move elsewhere.
The only two electronic woodpecker repellents I endorse are the BirdXPeller PRO and Super BirdXpeller PRO. The BirdXpeller Pro covers an area of 1 acre while the Super covers an area of 6 acres.
There are many other similar devices to these on the market but I have yet to find one that can even come close to the BirdXPeller products. These two woodpecker repellents do an amazing job at engaging woodpeckers’ sense of sound and keeping them away from your property for good! I also love how you can program them to run whenever you desire.
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Feed them with Woodpecker Suet Cakes
Woodpeckers go crazy over suet cakes! Place one of them inside a woodpecker suet feeder away from your house and watch them go to town on it.
This is a particularly effective method if the woodpeckers are pecking your house in search of food. My recommendation is to put 2-3 of these around your yard to deter woodpeckers from coming near your house.
Many people get discouraged by this method because they attempt to use a generic suet cake. Woodpeckers are very picky eaters which is why they make woodpecker suet cakes specifically for these birds.
This is one of the most effective woodpecker deterrents out there. It also provides a mutually beneficial relationship whereby they leave you alone and you help them in their search for food.
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Shelter them with a Woodpecker Birdhouse
In the event that the woodpecker is attacking your house for shelter rather than food, a woodpecker birdhouse will provide the housing they are after.
These birds absolutely love this particular woodpecker birdhouse which is specifically made for them. Hang one of these up by a woodpecker suet feeder and they’ll have no reason to bother your house!
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Use Woodpecker Deterrent Paint
An extremely effective method to get rid of woodpeckers on stucco is with the use of a woodpecker deterrent paint such as Beakguard. This particular paint produces a taste and odor that the woodpeckers find repulsive.
The manufacturer of Beakguard states that the product has a 70% success rate. However, I believe they are being very conservative because I have never seen an application of this paint fail to deter woodpeckers.
They currently offer this paint in 4 colors: Portabello, Whetstone, White, and Sandstone.
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Use Woodpecker Spikes or Woodpecker Netting
If you aren’t having any success with the aforementioned woodpecker deterrents, try using one of the following physical barriers:
Woodpecker Spikes are attached to their desired surface. These spikes prevent them from gaining access to the area they’ve been attacking.
Woodpecker Netting is very effective if you can get it about a foot away from the area the birds like to attack. It is also a very effective means in deterring woodpeckers from attacking your desirable plants and trees!
These 6 woodpecker deterrents should help you get rid of woodpeckers on stucco. In addition, I’ll teach you exactly how to repair woodpecker damage that may have been already done to your house! I’ll show you exactly what to do to seamlessly patch these holes!
For more information on getting rid of woodpeckers, check out the following articles:
- How to Get Rid of Woodpeckers on Your House
- How to Get Rid of Woodpeckers on Cedar Siding
- How to Get Rid of Woodpeckers on Trees
Please feel free to leave comments below!
The woodpeckers have a made a hole in our stucco home exterior and seem to be making a nest inside – is there an issue with this (since they’ve already made the hole)? Or should we be trying to get them out of the hole?
My advice would be to get them out asap. You don’t want a hole in your stucco where water can eventually access your sheathing and rot it out.
Thanks for all of the good information. I currently have a male downey woodpecker that is roosting in my garage. I do have acrylic stucco with insulation behind. My plan is to put up a feeder and a house but right now it is too cold to work outside here in Saskatchewan, Canada. Where the downey is roosting there are no issues with electrical. My question is is it okay to just let him roost there for the winter and once gone do the repair and put the house up? Does a woodpecker generally return to a roost site year after year? I look forward to hearing from you.
I do not believe that woodpeckers have any allegiance to a particular area but if one woodpecker finds an area attractive, chances are other will as well. I would certainly put a Woodpecker Birdhouse away from your residence as soon as possible.
Can you reality check a crazy idea for me? We’ve been under attack for years. We’ve engaged a wildlife company that has patched the holes, added streamers, balloons, etc. Nothing has worked. Our whole house is stucco, but they only drill on the stucco columns for some reason, not the stucco walls.
What if we added a stone veneer to the columns? The two questions that arise there are – (1) can they drill through stone veneer? (2) would they just move to the stucco walls at that point?
When you say your house is stucco, I’m sure what you’re actually referring to is EIFS (Exterior Insulation and Finishing System). This material is comprised of a hard, cement-like outer coating with a Styrofoam interior.
I can speak to what’s going on with your home from personal experience. I too was dealing with woodpecker damage that was solely relegated to the columns and occasionally window borders.
The reason for this is that these are the thickest parts of the EIFS material. Therefore, they have the most Styrofoam inside which is ideal for nesting.
They don’t usually attack the walls because they are comprised of a much thinner layer of foam which woodpeckers can’t excavate/burrow deep enough to nest.
I have stone veneer on parts of my home and woodpeckers have never attacked it. This material is way too hard and doesn’t provide anything that woodpeckers are looking for.
Although it’s not a guarantee, I’m sure that if you were to remove the thick parts of the EIFS on your home, you would greatly reduce, if not eliminate your woodpecker problem.
I hope this has adequately answered your question. If you need any more information please don’t hesitate to ask!
We live outside Boulder, CO. How do I know which of the above is causing this flicker to attack our stucco pillars? The prior owner put 2 houses on the pillars perhaps as you describe above although ours are inhabited by starlings. Does the electronic deterrent affect all birds? We like birds. Heck, we like flickers. We just don’t want them destroying our home. Can we mix the paint to match our color? Thank you.
In my experience, woodpeckers typically attack stucco for nesting purposes. The Styrofoam material can be easily excavated with their sharp beaks and provides a warm nesting cavity for them to mate and lay their eggs. Furthermore, it provides a great deal of security as other predators normally have difficulty accessing the holes they’ve made.
The BirdXPeller Pro is specifically designed to emit frequencies that deter woodpeckers and sparrows.
The Beakguard paint comes in several different colors but I would not mix it with other paint as it would dilute the woodpecker repelling properties of the paint.
I can totally understand the frustration you’re experiencing. It can be a real pain to get rid of these birds but with the products listed above, you have the best possible chance at doing so.
I wouldn’t repair any existing holes just yet as they will just create more. Use one of the products above and once you’ve noticed their absence for a while, go ahead and repair the woodpecker damage.
I really hope this was of some assistance to you. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Best of luck!
My house had over $7000 damage to it from woodpeckers. Finally had Beakguard painted on the upper 3 feet of the house all the way around it. The birds stopped pecking! I would highly recommend this product and agree that it should not be diluted with any other paint or liquid such as water. It does not harm the birds, just deters them from pecking because of the taste and smell they don’t like.
Thank you for sharing your experience with this product. I’m glad you had success using this woodpecker deterrent paint and hope others visiting this site will as well!
I did not know that there were so many deterrents that could be used to keep woodpeckers away. I like how simple it would be to do a visual deterrent to keep the birds away, however, it would look very obnoxious. I think that a better option would be to use the electronic deterrent so that my house doesn’t look like a Christmas tree.
I agree wholeheartedly. Visual deterrents, although very effective, aren’t too aesthetically pleasing if overdone. However, a few visual deterrents usually aren’t that noticeable and are able to handle most woodpecker problems. But as you said, an electronic woodpecker deterrent is far more discrete as it has a much smaller physical footprint and often blends right into the background of most landscapes. Thanks for the contribution!
You apparently live in an area that’s got a ton of woodpeckers. Your site has so much information about woodpeckers. I live in an area where there are no trees, hence not many woodpeckers either.
The paint that you talked about as a woodpecker deterent. Do you think it would keep starlings away from my garden shed? I’ve got a bunch of pesky starlings trying to build big ugly nests in there and it’s getting on my nerves. What can I do? Torrey
It’s really tough to say whether this woodpecker product will address your starling issue. If woodpeckers find the odor and taste repulsive, I’d have to think the same for most birds.
With that being said, this is just pure speculation. I honestly wouldn’t risk spending money on that paint to deter starlings. I think your chance of success would be significantly better with the bird repellent discs as they are designed to deter most birds!