Northern Flicker

A frequent but very wary visitor this morning is this female Northern Flicker. They are not friends of people with cedar houses...or any house, for that matter. They rat-atat-tat their way through walls and roofs to make nests in between the inner and outer walls. I don't mind them whacking away at the trees...bashing their little brains to mush looking for bugs, but I have a cedar shake roof and have to scare them off every once in awhile. They don't like my siding (it's redwood) because it's too oily. One part-time neighbor found their house full of flickers one year....very much a horror scene! Hitchcock comes to mind..."The Birds"!