Why provide a drumming board for Northern flickers?
Unlike the destructive chiseling that flickers and other woodpeckers do to excavate nest cavites or to reach wood-boring insects, drumming is simply a form of woodpecker communication. A flicker drum roll consists of a series of rapid beats, lasting about 1 second. The male often drums in spring to attract a mate and also when another male invades his territory. Drumming on a building wall or a metal roof usually does no harm, except in the case of stucco or cedar siding. Offering the cedar drumming board with resonance chamber may entice a flicker to stop using a metal gutter or flashing. It also may offer a useful tool for attracting a mate, where no better acoustic site is available. This winter, I have begun placing drumming boards at several locations where our flickers typically like to drum. Our resident male hasn’t felt the need to drum since last October, when he spent a day drumming on the metal roof of our house, followed by a day drumming on the tv antenna. His favorite dru
