Are these woodpeckers or what? Never saw such a thing!

These are kind of small birds. They are just a whole flick of them. They come and go. Then, they bring their brothers and sisters and the rest of the family.

Not bats,are they? Have you spoken to a stucco man who might be familiar with this phenomenon?

I posted this here to see if anyone with some experience in dealing with something like this will reach out. We suspect that the contractor who did the exterior 10 years ago probably cut corners. We have gone everywhere and we have not seen any stucco exteriors with this sort of abuse and destruction by birds.

Thank you. Good to know that you thought this as unusual as we do.

Sorry to hear about that. To resolve this, I recommend figuring out roughly what type of birds and/or what they are doing. Solutions may be different.

E.g. if they are woodpeckers, and they drum regularly at the same spot, then fly away, and it sounds pretty loud, they are doing a dominance behavior intended to establish their territory. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/can-woodpecker-deterrents-safeguard-my-house/ In this case, it is a very tough problem, but there are numerous approaches to somewhat address it.

If they aren't woodpeckers, or they aren't doing noisy, ostentatious drumming, but rather spending a lot of time picking at the holes, and perhaps even flying or climbing inside, then they may be finding food inside your house cladding, or even building nests. Different solutions.

So next time you see them, observe them carefully and maybe take some videos with a high res camera or phone, then share with your local bird experts. And keep in mind all wild native birds are protected everywhere in the US. Good luck!

Fantastic! I believe the second scenario has been our experience. We suspect that they have nested inside and that they find food and comfort there behind the stucco walls. We would look into your suggestion. And yes, we are aware of protected status of the birds and that brings a higher level of challenge in getting rid of these birds.

When we have critters, we order "predator pee", the type of pee depending on the critter. It is crystalline pellets that you sprinkle in the area the critters are nesting. We've used coyote pee to chase away feral cats, possums, and rats. If you search the Internet, you may find something similar for birds.

Hmm, hoping to find a pee the tax man is afraid of, tea.

That's one pest there's no humane solution for!

ROFL!!

In the spirit of Halloween, you could dress up like a scarecrow and see if that works!

I think that proper stucco should be applied over a mesh -- probably if you did that, it would make your walls incapable of having holes opened in them. Of course, that means a new stucco layer all over the house...

That isn't hard coat stucco. It's EIFS. Bad news. Big bad news. As in many many lawsuits about it. It probably is rotten underneath and has an insect infestation. That's what the birds are after. Get your insurance company involved ASAP. You potentially can have the equivalent of an automobile total loss if there is enough moisture damage behind the walls.

Can you make an insurance claim for the repair?

We have this problem with birds. We have sparrows and they are not protected so you can shoot with a BB gun. We don't have stucco but wood. I don't think ours are looking for bugs, but put a hole in once and keeps coming back every fall to live there. We would fill it and they keep coming. This year we covered their spot with metal, which had so far been successful.

If it's a bug problem, you should consult with a exterminator, who could advise there. I believe our bird problem is more a habit situation. I am presently saving for James hardie siding, because they will break their beaks if they try to hammer on it.

We owned a home with a dryvit exterior finish (think that is the same kind of exterior Sophie references). When we went to sell, we were shocked at the extent of water intrusion and resulting damage uncovered as part of the inspection process. Please have an expert take a look as soon as possible. Good luck.

Try Googling 'Stucco and Wood Peckers ' will give you some options to remedy your problem.

I thought the same too. Maybe this was an all around bad job.

All great advice. Will start by contacting the insurance company to possibly evaluate damage.

I believe the are Chimney Swifts or Swallows