Bird Feeders and stucco (1 Viewer)

[Abbear]

Hi all,
I live in a newer area across from a bit of forest and a small lake. I moved here a few years ago. In that time I took up feeding birds and have had time to really see how the developers cutting down their trees has left them scrambling desperately for winter roosts.
I live in zone 3 so it gets brutally cold!

Anyway, my feeders are high quality suet and shelled sunflower seeds and tree nuts, and the birds have had a few years to become accustomed to this steady food supply. (1 suet feeder and one seed feeder were up - not a yard full).
Unfortunately as the trees in the yards in my area are starting to mature, birds are doing what birds do and are exploring all the yards to find shelter. The large forest trees were cut down so they don’t have a lot to choose from.
A couple of Downy woodpeckers have started pecking some nearby homes that are finished in stucco. A witch hunt ensued and has two neighbours pointing fingers at me.
I’ve tried to tell them this is not food related, as they only do this pecking right before winter as they are desperate for roosts. They are pecking 2” holes not little drilling holes.

I explained putting up bird houses would solve this as they are hunting for a warm safe place to sleep as winter approaches.

The birds are not pecking during mating season or any other time of year and my feeders have been out for years.

This sudden change in their behaviour is likely due to the cutting down of their trees in the community which has left almost no mature trees for them to find winter shelter in.

I have given away all my feeders as there is no way to prove I am right.
I know this finger pointing is going to end when the people realize that woodpecker pecking continues regardless of my feeders.
(Heaven help them when they come to blame me and there are no feeders). All neighbourly niceness is now out the window. I lost my hobby and the birds are so confused. Two almost pet birds who know me so well - pilated woodpeckers - come daily and call for me to fill the feeders up. I’ve never failed them and now they’re cut off.
Breaks my heart.

Should I have kept the feeders up? Nobody wants holes in their homes and I understand why the neighbours freaked out, but they will not stop to ask why are they only pecking now and not every year and at no other time of year?
I have done the neighbourly thing but it feels like I did the wrong thing.
Thoughts?

 

[Kits]

I wouldn’t have given my feeders away. I’d have just taken them down for a while.

Could you provide bird houses?

 

[Abbear]

Thank you for the reply. I did offer that, but with some people once they’ve formed an opinion nothing but their own findings will change it. They continued on with their finger pointing without listening to my offer. I do understand that they’re defending their homes. They have zero knowledge of wildlife and that won’t change. It’s their property and that’s what matters.

I gave the feeders away because as long as I have them they will still blame me. There will always be the excuse I’ve drawn them to the area (like they can smell a feeder across the miles…jeesh)

At least when they complain again I can walk them through my property and let them play “find the feeder”. At that point I will have my say as I toss them out of my yard.

Lastly- A verbatim quote from the neighbours: “I’ll do what I have to do when I see a bird on my house”. The message: the lives of the birds are in my hands and if they get shot it’s my fault.
There’s no reasoning with that.

 

[tucansam]

You have done nothing wrong.

Do not capitulate. You are free and should be operating as such. Neighbors have no dominion over you. Human beings can be filled with darkness and that is not your fault.

Enjoy your hobby and take care of your feathered friends.

Full stop.

 

[maplekong]

Hi, how is it going? I would have been the stubborn mule I am and continued feeding them. It's not your fault that there are some people who are just plain ignorant.

 

[Shrapnel steve]

No way I would have stopped any hobby to appease the neighbours. It’s not as if you are tuning motorcycles. I used to be a keen pigeon fancier sometimes I had as many as 50. Many complaints about bird droppings. They fell on deaf ears. Good fences make good neighbours.