It breeds mainly in the eastern United States, ranging as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada.

The English naturalist Mark Catesby described and illustrated the red-bellied woodpecker in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which was published between 1729 and 1732.

[2] When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he included the red-bellied woodpecker, coined the binomial name Picus carolinus and cited Catesby's book.

[4] The red-bellied woodpecker is one of 24 species now placed in the genus Melanerpes that was introduced by the English ornithologist William Swainson in 1832.

[6] Adults are mainly light gray on the face and underparts; they have black and white barred patterns on their back, wings and tail.

They tap on hollow trees, and even on aluminum roofs, metal guttering and transformer boxes in urban environments, to communicate with potential partners.

In areas that are extensively deforested, the birds will sometimes utilize gardens, but for the most part they simply will not be present in any numbers.

As indicated by Kilham 1983, the red-bellied woodpecker drums with its bill during conflict situation and taps to maintain pair bonding.

They have been known to rapidly peck on aluminum gutters of houses to produce a loud noise in order to attract females.

A pair begins nesting in April or May holding a year-round territory and showing high site fidelity.

[17] Recent studies have shown that these woodpeckers experienced low breeding due to cutting sites of dead trees; however, predators are still of main concern.

[16] The juvenile red-bellied woodpecker remains in its natal area for approximately 27 weeks after fledging.

[16] In some cases, the woodpecker may return to its natal area for breeding, depending on predation levels and food resources.

[23]: 351  In addition, Breitwisch (1977)[21] observed red-bellied woodpeckers primarily gleaning and probing to find food in South Florida pine habitat.