The Middle Spotted Woodpecker (Leiopicus medius) is considered a habitat specialist whose occurrence strongly depends on the presence of trees with cracked bark. This is related to the way the bird feeds – it collects arthropods from cracks in bark. Oaks are conspicuous for their deeply cracked bark. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the characteristics of trees and tree stands of different species composition (suboptimal coniferous and optimal oak-hornbeam forests) and the presence/breeding of the Middle Spotted Woodpecker. The following stand characteristics were taken into account: total number of dead branches, number of sporophores on stems, maximum diameter at breast height and basal area of oak, and basal area of dead trees. The higher oak stand age was the only trait close to statistical significance in breeding sites. Analysis of the preferences of the Middle Spotted Woodpecker at breeding sites suggests that this species requires an oak stand exhibiting diverse structure for the whole set of features. Stand age seems to be one of the most important features that the Middle Spotted Woodpecker uses when choosing its territory.