A Coastal New England Town’s ‘Ornery’ Vandal: A Woodpecker

The first casualty was a side-view mirror.

Then another and another and another, until residents of one New England enclave said that the number had reached at least 20. The culprit apparently did not believe that it was bad luck to break mirrors — and still doesn’t.

Janelle Favaloro, 59, who has lived in the Squam Hill section of Rockport, Mass., for 36 years, put out an A.P.B. on Facebook for the menace.

“We have a vandal in the neighborhood,” Ms. Favaloro wrote. “He was described as 18 to 24 inches tall, wearing black and white with a red hat.”

The brazen suspect, who would become known to many in the neighborhood, was actually a pileated woodpecker, one of the largest forest bird species on the continent.

The male bird was marking his turf during mating season, which may explain some of the aggression. Residents recognized the bird by the distinctive red malar stripe along its cheekbone area, as well as by its size.