My grandkids live in the next village over on a nice, peaceful, tree-lined street.  A downy woodpecker spent a previous spring shattering the peace and quiet of the whole neighborhood.  He moved from the stop sign to the "stop sign ahead" sign persistently drumming on the metal. Several times a day for several weeks the racket continued  (invariably corresponding with the girls' nap time).

The few people on the street at home during the day would pass by and shake their heads.  It was our collective opinion that he was a woodpecker who was misguided and possibly not clever enough to find a real tree trunk.

It wasn't until I began my new-found interest in studying birds that I discovered how misguided and yes, not clever,  I was  about woodpeckers.

The downy was just trying to call a female or defend his territory.  Woodpeckers will actually seek out a metal or hard wood  surface that could create the loudest noise.

The downy eventually made his point, and peace returned to the neighborhood if not the grandgirls' house (naptime had become just a fond memory of mine). The downy's hammering in my own backyard occurs only on trees and wooden feeders.