Vexing ...

Now that Spring is (allegedly) here, we've been enjoying listening to the Dawn Chorus each morning.  One of the sounds we've been hearing as a sort of backbeat to all the trills and warbles has been the rat-tat-tat of woodpeckers hammering away at what we thought were trees in the woods. 

Nope.  They have been making nesting holes in the side of our house!  I don't know if anyone is actually living in them (there are three holes on this particular pilaster), or whether they were merely tentative explorations into the possibility of residence in an antique Greek Revival home.  I do know there's an active woodpecker nest in the side of the barn that we've just had some repairs made on.  Last year, I noticed an odd, gnawed-looking hole way up high and wondered who/what had done the damage.  Just last week, I saw a woodpecker flying out of the hole, so I'm hoping this is where it decided to settle, and that there are no relatives living next door in our house.  Woodpeckers are a protected species, so I suspect eviction efforts may well be complicated.