AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Now to Rockport, Massachusetts, where woodpeckers are wrecking car windows and mirrors. Dealing with the chaos is exhausting residents, and you can just hear it in their voices.
DEVIN MOCK: So there's a group of these giant woodpeckers, and at first, it - no big deal. They just cruised around. They're loud. They're big. They sound like monkeys. Like, (vocalizing). I can't even do it right. But they - they've started smashing mirrors on cars 'cause they see their own reflection and it's mating season. So they're going nuts.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
That is Devin Mock, 36-years-old, raised in the coastal town of Rockport.
MOCK: I cook at my family's restaurant right on the water. It's a great place to grow up. I love it here.
CHANG: But this year, he, his friends and neighbors do not love the pileated woodpecker, and it seems for good reason.
MOCK: They're big, and they're mean, and they don't like their reflection.
KELLY: One bird expert believes that one single woodpecker is responsible for attacking people's mirrors and car windows on one street alone. The why all comes down to science.
JOHN HERBERT: So this is a male woodpecker, and with this time of year, they have elevated levels of testosterone - a hormone that if a male comes into their territory, they want to defend it. And with birds, they don't perceive glass or mirrors well. And when they see their reflection in a mirror, they don't see it as themselves. They see it as another woodpecker.
KELLY: That is John Herbert. He is director of bird conservation with Mass Audubon in Massachusetts.
HERBERT: We're in mid-April now, so this is the time of the year when our birds are starting to enter what's known as the breeding season, so they're starting to - when they nest, lay eggs and start raising their young. But to prepare for that, the birds establish what's known as territories.
CHANG: And to establish territories, the males work to keep other male birds away, even if that other bird is their own reflection.
MOCK: I know a guy. He's a fisherman that lives down the street. I think they like the mirrors that are longer, like, on trucks or on vans and stuff. And it's 'cause they can land on the side of them, and then they see themselves, and they blast the mirror. But he lost two mirrors. Another guy that lives up the street, he has, like, a conversion van, and he's convinced they've broken the back window. They're terrible (laughter). They're monsters.
CHANG: Rockport resident Devin Mock says some of his daily conversations with one of his neighbors sound a lot like this.
MOCK: Let's just say, I probably can't say it on the radio, but he's not happy. Have you seen any of those something birds around, da da da da. Yeah. Yeah, he doesn't like them.
KELLY: To slow down the destruction, Mass Audubon's John Herbert has this advice.
HERBERT: Covering up your mirrors - if you happen to have a large woodpecker attacking your mirrors, covering it up with any material should mitigate that potential source of it breaking.
KELLY: But both agree, this is all just part of nature, right?
HERBERT: Birds are wonderful creatures, and this is a fascinating behavior. You know, it's unfortunate that mirrors and some - your property is being damaged. But we can do our best to mitigate that loss for ourselves and also live with these birds and with our wildlife and nature.
MOCK: I'm sure my neighbors would say a different story, but they're just birds. They're doing their thing, you know? You know, it's nature. What are you going to do?
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY'S "WOODPECKER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
