A peculiar battle is underway in a small US fishing village, with residents pitted against a destructive woodpecker destroying windows and cars.
This isn't the first time Rockport, Massachusetts, has seen unusual conflict – during the War of 1812, locals famously fended off British soldiers by slinging rocks with their stockings.
Now, they’re facing a new feathered foe, armed with rubbish bags and towels instead of stockings and stones.
Over recent weeks, the rogue woodpecker has wreaked havoc on the town's vehicles, damaging more than two dozen wing mirrors and even a side window.
The bird's reign of terror has prompted residents to adopt creative countermeasures, draping their car mirrors with makeshift protectors in a bid to deter the avian assailant.
Despite the ongoing conflict, Rockport residents are taking the unusual situation in stride.
"Everybody’s having a good laugh about it," said resident Ben Favaloro. "Nobody wants harm to the bird. He’s always welcome back."
Favaloro, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly four decades, said he’s seen the occasional woodpecker on the side of houses in years past and he removed several trees last summer that were damaged beyond recovery. But the attacking of glass is a new phenomenon.
“Initially, we just noticed that all the mirrors had been adjusted. It looked like maybe there’s a child in the neighborhood that was going around pushing the mirrors down,” he said. But then his sister-in-law spotted the roughly 21-inch (53-centimeter) tall woodpecker on Favaloro’s truck, pecking at the side mirror.
Given their enormous size, piliated woodpeckers are plenty strong enough to break mirrors, but such behavior is “definitely weird,” said Pamela Hunt, senior biologist for avian conservation at the New Hampshire Audubon.
“Lots of birds will be aggressive against reflections in mirrors, but I don’t usually hear about woodpeckers,” she said. “They don’t usually peck at their opponents, they kind of chase them around.”
She said the woodpecker might be “a little stupid” and is trying to defend its territory and scare away what it sees as competition. The damage coincides with the mating season for pileated woodpeckers and resident Barbara Smith said she’d be fine with “lots of little woodpeckers” around, though she hopes they won't be as destructive.
“Woodpeckers have to do what woodpeckers do,” she said. “Good luck, woodpecker.”
Favalro said the woodpecker and the media attention it has attracted has been a fun distraction from everything else going on in the world.
“This small town of Rockport that I live in is one of the safest communities around,” he said. “I think this is probably one of the biggest crimes in years. It’s kind of funny, but it’s nice as well.”
British jets bomb Houthi military target in Yemen
Aston Martin cuts US imports following Trump’s tariffs
ICE raids wrong Oklahoma home and seizes family’s life savings — then leaves
Kremlin says a deal to end the war with Ukraine can't be achieved quickly
Why this US zoo is feeding a baby vulture with a hand puppet
Two-year-old in foster care after parents deported to countries 1,500 miles apart
