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If you have a woodpecker around your home, you know that these can be incredibly disruptive animals. They make a large amount of noise, and can do a significant amount of damage to the side or roof of your home.



Because of their very strong beaks, they are able to peck away at the siding or roof of your home, leaving numerous holes that can allow water, bugs, and even the woodpecker to gain access into the walls of your home. This can be incredibly dangerous to the health of your home and can also create a nightmare in terms of trying to make your house a place that you truly love living in.

What makes this challenge even more daunting is that getting rid of a woodpecker is not the easiest thing. These animals carry a lot of diseases that can be dangerous, so coming in contact with them is not something you want to do. Plus, you take the risk of them attacking and harming you. So, what are you to do?

For some, the solution they would like to implement is a permanent one. They would prefer to simply resolve this issue by killing the woodpecker so that they will not have to deal with it anymore. If this sounds like the best option for you and you are wanting to know how to kill a woodpecker let's give you some other thoughts before deciding to take this action.

First of all, it is important for you to understand that in some areas of the country it is illegal to kill these birds. You are taking a risk by deciding that this is the option you must implement. What this means for you is that before you decide to do anything you should check with your local government to see if this is even permissible. The last thing you want to do is find yourself paying a heavy fine or spending some time in jail because of the stupid woodpecker.

If you find that this is acceptable to do, then there are a couple of different things that will aid you to be able to permanently resolve the situation. The first is the use of a kind of bird trap that has a mechanism inside that works much in the same way that a mousetrap does. When the bird comes inside the birdhouse, a bar snaps across, killing the woodpecker in your problem is resolved. Kind of gruesome, but it does work.

The other option that you have is to go with a sticky trap. This is nothing more than a sheet of wood or paper that you attached to the side of your home that has a glue-like material on it. When the bird lands on the glue it gets stuck, and is unable to get away.

Either one of these kinds of traps will do the job for you. It is simply a matter of you deciding which alternative works best for you and then going with it.

How to Kill a Woodpecker

Before you do anything in terms of trying to trap, move or kill a woodpecker, you should first check out the legalities of such a thing. Let's say you live in Virginia, for example. There are eight generally recognized woodpeckers living there, and one of those is classed as threatened. All of the birds are covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and this very clearly states:



“At no time is it legal to use lethal force on a woodpecker without first obtaining a permit from both the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.”

This is actually the case across all states, because they are covered by the State-wide Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It means that killing a woodpecker is unlawful in Virginia (alone), as well as destroying any nests or eggs you come across. It also means that you are not permitted to trap them, or destroy them in any way, unless a permit has been granted or it is during a specifically set out hunting season, once again, with that granted permit. Not only that, it is illegal to poison them too.

Those laws are just at a State level. Covered by that Migratory Bird Treaty Act, you can actually be prosecuted if you ship, transport, carry, deliver or sell ANY woodpecker, and even more so the case with the endangered species, the red-cockaded woodpecker.

Other birds that are covered by this act, and therefore require very specific actions when trying to remove pest populations from residential and commercial property, include robins, swallows and owls.

If you come across a nest, however, that doesn't have any eggs in it, or birds, you ARE allowed to destroy it. You are also permitted to destroy any nests that have been abandoned by their owners once the mating seasons are finished with.

If you are currently researching how to kill a woodpecker, we very much recommend that you stop. This is a situation that requires a very specific method of resolving it, and the wrong way could prove very costly to you.

For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does bird removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of birds - my main bird removal info guide.
Example bird removal photographs - get do-it-yourself ideas.
Bird job blog - learn from great examples of bird jobs I've done.