North Shore birder has advice as car mirrors get woodpeckered

A pileated woodpecker has been terrorizing residents around Rockport by pecking away at the side-view mirrors on cars, trucks, and vans, according to the Gloucester Times.

“We have a vandal in the neighborhood. He was described as 18- to 24-inches tall, wearing black and white with a red hat,”  Rockport resident Janelle Favaloro, told the news outlet. 

Favaloro said her truck suffered damage from the pesky bird, which has reportedly damaged nine other vehicles around the North Shore town. 

Gloucester-based birder Jay Frontiero told the Times that it’s likely the woodpecker is seeing his own reflection in the mirrors and mistaking it for a rival male. To ward off the feisty bird, Frontiero suggests that people in the area tilt their side-view mirrors at a downward angle at least for the next few weeks.

Pileated woodpeckers often peck more during their mating season, which typically runs from late March to early July.