In numerous and extensive studies on birds in cities, woodpeckers have usually been neglected. Most research has only considered their suburban populations. Among European woodpeckers, only the Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopos syriacus is synanthropic, occupying both rural and urban areas. In this study, habitat requirements of sympatric Syrian and Great Spotted D. majorWoodpeckers were investigated in two urban populations from central Poland. The occurrence of Syrian Woodpecker was found to be associated with walnut trees, fruit trees and mainly older softwood trees (poplars, willows). Plots with Syrian Woodpeckers were characterized by trees scattered among single-family buildings and within tenement houses in town centres. In contrast, plots with Great Spotted Woodpeckers were densely wooded, often with high share of hardwood trees and located in suburbs or residential woods. The aforementioned results show that these two sibling woodpeckers occupy different niches in urban populations. Moreover, this study supports the statement that urban areas are important for the Syrian Woodpecker in central Europe — a rare species in the European Union. Trees removal in cities, especially softwood trees, is a serious threat to the preservation of Syrian Woodpecker populations.