When I was a little kid, I had a recording of Woody Woodpecker singing "What kind of wood would a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker would peck wooooood." It was on an old vinyl 78 recording. It was a pretty color record too, not a black one. (red? blue? I can't remember.)
Heeeeeeeee'd peck hardwood softwood redwood dogwood, cottonwood plywood hickory beech. Rosewood Teakwood candlewood and sandlewood walnut hazzlenut apple and peach. Innn-nnnn oaktrees, elm trees, fir trees pine trees, pear trees, shoe trees, telephone poles. Barn doors, benches, table tops and fences. A wood pecker would peck a peck of little holes!
OP: the woodpecker is a symptom. You're asking the wrong question. He's not after "old" bees nests. He's getting LIVE bees & their larvae. They don't peck holes for the hell of it. You probably have a carpenter bee problem. You should be thanking the woodpecker for discovering this problem for you. You NEED to address the BEE problem, not the woodpecker problem.