Much of the rivalry between males is confined to noisy, chattering pursuit. After pair formation, both sexes excavate a nest cavity in a branch or tree trunk. The female usually lays the white, unmarked eggs directly on wood chips left in the bottom of the cavity. Both sexes incubate, with the more aggressive male often staying on the eggs overnight. In the southeastern states, woodpeckers may raise two broods.
Woodpeckers have definite economic importance.
They do punch holes in trees, but rarely in healthy ones. By stripping the bark from a dead or dying tree and cleaning up the resident wood borers or carpenter ants, they prevent these pests from spreading to nearby healthy trees. Adversely, woodpeckers sometimes damage utility and other poles. Woodpeckers also chop out homes for owls, bluebirds, tree swallows, nuthatches, chickadees, red and gray squirrels and flying squirrels. The Pennsylvania Game Commission manages state game land woodlots and forests to favor woodpeckers and other wildlife species.