Common Flameback

Overview

The common flameback, also known as the common goldenback, is a small three-toed woodpecker in the family Picidae found throughout South and Southeast Asia. As a species with a wide distribution and a variety of habitats, it is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Identification

• A small bird measuring 28–30 cm in length with a spotted black and white underside.
• Males possess a bright red crest, while females have a black crest with white streaks.
• Both sexes feature a white supercilium, white cheek stripe, and white throat area separated by black stripes, along with a black nape.
• Distinguishable by its loud, high-pitched call resembling a series of "kow-kowp" rattles, which is similar to the greater flameback but distinct from the nearly identical Himalayan flameback.

Habitat

This shy and secretive species inhabits a variety of environments, ranging from moist open forests to scrubs and mangroves. Although they generally prefer lowlands, they can reach altitudes of 1,700 m in India where they favour pine forests. Their distribution spans from the Western Ghats in India across the Indochinese peninsula to several of the Greater Sunda Islands.

Diet

As a strict insectivore that rarely pecks wood, this bird forages by gleaning and probing using its relatively small bill. Its diet consists mainly of ants, but it also hawks slow-flying insects and gleans other tree-crawling invertebrates. The bird remains motionless for long periods before lurching rapidly to catch prey, using its unique three-toed feet to hop effectively between trees.

Did you know?

Despite being a woodpecker, the common flameback surprisingly rarely drums on wood due to its distinct foraging behaviour. It also possesses a highly developed protractor pterygoidei muscle, a morphological trait it shares with the olive-backed woodpecker and the maroon woodpecker, the latter belonging to an entirely different genus.