Woodpeckers do not use nest boxes; House sparrows do.

Actually woodpeckers will use nesting boxes. If you fill them with wood chips, they find it more acceptable. The problem is, for the larger birds like flickers, you have a full-time job keeping starlings away.

My point is if we want to make an avian sanctuary for our feathered friends, we have to be aggressive in dealing with starlings and house sparrows, for the native species to nest successfully.

There's a recent article in the Journal of Wildlife Management comparing deterrent methods for woodpeckers on house siding. Natural colored wood-sided houses had the biggest problems with woodpecker damage as opposed to painted (of course), but the big kicker that deterred woodpeckers something like 95% of the time (don't have the article in hand, sorry) after correcting for siding color was stringing sections of reflective tape along the roofline every few feet. Not the most aesthetic solution, but effective. Has nothing to do with nest boxes or non-native species. Just a suggestion for morning peace.

Thanks for the tip!

I read something about stringing strips of aluminum foil on fishing line, but the reflective tape sounds alot more practical. Its cedar siding stained brown, fairly easy for the woodpeckers to dig into.

I believe woodpeckers do roost in the winter in boxes, but excavate new holes in trees each year to breed.

Good luck anyway!

We used to toss pebbles at the woodpeckers when they were knocking on our cedar sided house in the past. (I now live in a brick house...)

But I knew we probably needed to find a new solution, when my 3 year old niece heard the familiar knocking... she exclaimed, "Damn Peckers!"... I winced and her mother nodded...little pitchers have big ears.