Noisy Woodpeckers Creating Nuisance, Disturbing The Peace In Garden City

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Some woodpeckers on Long Island are creating quite a nuisance.

The sounds echoing from Garden City trees have made a good night's sleep a thing of the past this spring.

"It keeps you up and you're like 'Is it coming through the walls? Is it in the house? Is it on the roof?'" homeowner Kristin Morris told CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan.

"It's just a constant. It goes for about 30 seconds, stops and then couple minutes later when you're about to fall asleep again, you hear the pecking again," J.J. Morris said.

While it may appear to locals like a professional drill was used on the trunks of multiple trees off Nassau Boulevard, the culprit is none other than the sap-sucking woodpecker.

The birds make the holes, attract insects to the sap and before returning for the feast.

The woodpecker is an endangered species taking advantage of a glut of insects out early due to the mild weather of the past months while preying on healthy trees under stress from the winter's drought.

Experts at Cornell Cooperative Extension said woodpeckers are smart and savvy birds.

"Initially, it's not really damaging, but over time, the holes are going to get larger, and also they're territorial so they will keep coming back to the same tree," said arborist Julie Seghrouchni.

Experts said deep-watering once a week will restore stressed trees. Seghrouchni also said property owners need to act quickly to repel the birds.

"You can hang up reflective material, like strips of aluminum foil. What I've done is I've hung up CDs -- old CDs that you don't use. You might want to put bird netting around the trunk," Seghrouchni said.

Woodpeckers breed in May and June and are looking for vulnerable targets. The Cornell horticulturists don't recommend insecticides and tree glues, saying they could harm the woodpeckers.

What can be done to quell the noisy woodpeckers?  Share your thoughts in the comments section below...