Ahhh, the drumming of the flickers in the early morning. It's a communication thing, calling to its mate, stating his territory? This was happening to us all last week. DH went out and threw some pebbles at them, it only took a couple of mornings and now they are doing their drumming elsewhere but hopefully not too far away, they eat an awful lot of insects.

A......

You think it is the flickers and not wookpeckers?

Male flicker impressing his mate with his drumming. We love it!

Yep, I took a walk through the neighborhood the other day and I must have seen 20 flickers drumming on peoples' chimneys. I heard a lot more than 20. Definitely the flickers!

Flickers do the same on our chimney. It doesn't last more than a couple of weeks and he moves on. It's how we know they're back every spring!

Our chimney is connected to a gas 'wood' stove and a couple of times I just turned the stove on. He left quickly.

Hi.

We had a memorable flicker visitation when living on Mercer Island. If he was drumming to try to find a mate, he either had no rhythm or was one ugly bird! The clattering of our metal chimney pipe was nerve rattling. We tried tossing stones up at the roof and lighting fires. In response, he would fly away briefly (all too briefly) or keep on drumming with smoke billowing and sparks a-flyin' around him. Most annoying! Finally got him to go away for good, using one of those heavy, plastic owls with the spooky-looking eyes.

Or, did we? Could be he found a (half-blind) mate after all or gave up and joined the local chapter of the Order of Flicks Without Chicks.

Good luck and keep that pillow wrapped around your head,

Rain

Be glad tht he has focused on your chimney. A flicker started drumming on the side of our house put a hole through the 1/2 inch thick cedar boards, pulled out pink insulation and festooned the fir trees with the pink stuff. The hole was the second story over a daylight basement....so actually 3rd story and it was EXPENSIVE to fix and then he came back to the same spot the next spring. We actually had metal mesh over the area for several years. We tried everything including Vicks Vapor Rub soaked socks on the wall, throwing pebbles and even the BBgun. Our whole house is cedar and thank goodness that was the only spot he found attractive. Other flickers drum on our metal barn and the metal roof of our old wooden dairy barn and even occasionally on metal field gates....i love the sound...it means they are not putting holes in my house!!!!! jwww

Around these parts it's either a flicker with a flashing fetish or a starling that dive bombs the birdblock and nests in the attic right above your bedroom. The former pales next to the latter on the annoyance scale IMNSVHO ;-)

Thanks everyone! Having just come from a big city, we're just lying in bed and enjoying the nature now. Of course, we initially thought we had a house malfunction, and called the septic, generator and fireplace repair, who never suggested it might be a bird! Thanks again to you all and the internet!

LOL, the first time I woke to it, I'm yelling at DH, you forgot to shut the air compressor off in the basement, it has a slight leak and sounds very much like the flicker drumming on the flashing. DH unplugs it most of the time. Our flicker has returned to drumming on the flashing after being away for a few days. I guess he struck out. You know what they say, if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again.

A......

Sweet.

The first time it scared me to death.

Now, since so far they are only focused on the metal chimney vent, I know it is just a special sign of spring. If they start on the wood siding, I will re-think it.

Putting out some peanut suet away from the house seems to shorten the time between hammering for a mate and finding one. I'm thinking that hammering near a good food source makes that boy attractive, and they get snatched up pretty quick. Once they find true love, they are off on that adventure, and no longer interested in hammering on metal.

I have lots of Flickers and also woodpeckers. I took silver mylar tape and stapled it to the house(giving it a couple feet to fly around in the wind) and places close by and they left my place...also, green lights that flash around are great to keep birds away..hope that helps

Its a flicker and I do have an answer.Lucky all of you..Sorry about the damage they did to the house.Yes there is an easy solution to it.Basically the flicker wants to nest right there , so just buy a nesting box for a flicker specifically and hang it somewhere around where you see him.Do it as soon as possible because this is the season for them to find proper housing..The higher the better.Problem solved.
Kindly return and let us know if it worked.
Its good luck to have a flicker moving close to you..