Red-bellied woodpeckers are noisy birds, and have many varied calls. Calls have been described as sounding like churr-churr-churr or thrraa-thrraa-thrraa with an alternating br-r-r-r-t sound. Males tend to call and drum more frequently than females, but both sexes call. Often, these woodpeckers "drum" to attract mates. They tap on aluminum roofs, metal guttering, hollow trees and even transformer boxes, in urban environments, to communicate with potential partners. Babies have a high-pitched begging call of pree-pree-pree. They will continue to give a begging call whenever they see their parents for a while after fledging.These birds mainly search out arthropods on tree trunks. They may also catch insects in flight. They are omnivores, eating insects, fruits, nuts and seeds. Their breeding habitat is usually deciduous forests and nest in the decayed cavities of dead trees, old stumps, or in live trees that have softer wood such as elms, maples, or willows, both sexes assist in digging nesting cavities. Areas around nest sites are marked with drilling holes to warn others away,It depends on large trees for nesting. In areas that are extensively deforested, the birds will sometimes utilize gardens, but for the most part simply will not be present in any numbers.
The red-bellied woodpecker expresses foraging behavior by catching or storing food. This woodpecker uses its bill for foraging as a chisel drilling into bark or probing cracks on trunk of trees.In this manner, the red-bellied woodpecker is able to pull out beetles and other insects from the tree with the help of its long tongue.This behavior is also seen for storing food from other animals by hiding food behind bark or deep in cracks of a tree.