{"id":8884,"date":"2019-04-30T09:56:31","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T13:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northwoodscenter.org\/wordpress\/?p=8884"},"modified":"2019-04-30T09:57:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T13:57:42","slug":"knocking-for-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northwoodscenter.org\/wordpress\/knocking-for-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Oberon: Knocking for Love"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>Dear Oberon,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Why do woodpeckers keep pecking on my metal roof and stovepipe where there aren\u2019t any bugs?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Sincerely,<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>Bang Bang Bang<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Dear Bang Bang Bang,<\/p>\n<p>Your pseudonym is more apt than you know. I\u2019m no ornithologist or melittologist, but I can tell you that<br \/>\nthe answer to your question involves both birds and bees.<\/p>\n<p>The period between Late April and the end of May is the woodpecker\u2019s usual mating season. During<br \/>\nmating season, male woodpeckers have discovered that hitting their beaks on pieces of metal makes the<br \/>\nsound of their tapping much louder than it would be if they were pecking on wood. Normally, during the<br \/>\nrest of the year, woodpeckers are pecking to find insects, so they\u2019re tapping on wood that isn\u2019t as tough<br \/>\nand loud. Mating season, however, is a time to show the ladies what you\u2019re working with.<\/p>\n<p>The stronger a woodpecker is, the harder it will be able to tap, and the louder the sound it makes will<br \/>\nbe. Hitting metal increases the reverberation of the sound and gives the woodpeckers who have figured<br \/>\nthis out a reproductive advantage over those who haven\u2019t. In nature, the driving purpose of most beings<br \/>\nis to achieve and maintain reproductive fitness to keep their genetic material within the gene pool. Due<br \/>\nto sexual selection by female woodpeckers, only the strongest (or canniest) males pass their genes on to<br \/>\nfuture generations.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I am of two minds about this technique of attracting mates. Firstly, as a bird, I admire their<br \/>\ningenuity and dedication to the mating cause. I have worked on my own mating display until it is<br \/>\nsomething I can be proud of, and I know the energy required to throw your whole self behind your call<br \/>\nfor love. On the other hand, I live right next to two cabins with a metal roofs on them and have been<br \/>\nwoken many times from my day-naps by woodpeckers tapping ceaselessly. Do I begrudge them? Not at<br \/>\nall. Do I give them my owliest glare when I am roused from a nice snooze? You betcha.<\/p>\n<p>Anyhoot, there\u2019s your answer Bang Bang Bang. I hope you have a newfound appreciation for the<br \/>\nwoodpeckers who tap the loudest on your stovepipe and you can cheer them on in their romantic<br \/>\npursuits.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers,<br \/>\nO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Oberon, Why do woodpeckers keep pecking on my metal roof and stovepipe where there aren\u2019t any bugs? Sincerely, Bang Bang Bang Dear Bang Bang Bang, Your pseudonym is more apt than you know. I\u2019m no ornithologist or melittologist, but I can tell you that the answer to your question involves both birds and bees. The period between Late April and the end of May is the woodpecker\u2019s usual mating season. During mating season, male woodpeckers have discovered that hitting their beaks on pieces of metal makes the sound of their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northwoodscenter.org\/wordpress\/knocking-for-love\/\"> [Read More&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1656,420,226,12],"tags":[1657,1701,560,1700],"class_list":["post-8884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ask-oberon","category-forest-stewardship-institute-2","category-front-page","category-news","tag-ask-oberon","tag-evolution","tag-spring","tag-woodpeckers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ask Oberon: Knocking for Love | NorthWoods Stewardship Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.northwoodscenter.org\/wordpress\/knocking-for-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ask Oberon: Knocking for Love | NorthWoods Stewardship Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Oberon, Why do woodpeckers keep pecking on my metal roof and stovepipe where there aren\u2019t any bugs? Sincerely, Bang Bang Bang Dear Bang Bang Bang, Your pseudonym is more apt than you know. I\u2019m no ornithologist or melittologist, but I can tell you that the answer to your question involves both birds and bees. The period between Late April and the end of May is the woodpecker\u2019s usual mating season. 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