A pair of Northern Flickers became obsessed with nesting in our Bainbridge
Island home this month.

First they knocked the mesh wire bird-block out of soffit vents; I loved
replacing the wire two stories up a ladder on cold rainy days.

Foiled at that, they drilled a hole right through our cedar siding and
plywood backing that was three inches wide; back up the ladder for more
patching.

Exasperated when the hammering continued, I hung some hip-hop CDs at the
locations they chose to drill holes.

Then - at last - I built the love-struck strikers a nest box and placed it
high in a Douglas fir a short distance from their chosen sites (above our
bedroom windows!) they'd obsessed over.

Here's a good site for getting flicker nest box plans:
http://www.shawcreekbirdsupply.com/plans_flicker.htm.

If you build a nest box, remember to fill it with sawdust so the flicker
thinks it's excavating its own nest cavity.

We love how critters share their lives with us around our little half-acre
Winslow abode, but lines must be drawn at times! Things are quieter now. My
wife, Hilary Hilscher (who works for National Audubon on the WA State
Birding Trails) thinks the hip-hop CDs were the last straw for Mr. & Mrs.
Flicker.

Neil Johannsen
Kitsap Audubon