Greater Flameback

The greater flameback, also called the greater goldenback or large golden-backed woodpecker, is a large woodpecker, 33 cm long, of typical woodpecker shape with an erect crest and a long neck. Colour varies a lot between subspecies, but it always has an unmarked golden-yellow to dark brown back and wings, a red rump and a black tail. The underparts are white with dark markings or light brown, and young birds are like the females but duller, with brown irises (Wikipedia, general species account).

It occurs widely in the northern Indian subcontinent, east to southern China, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java and north-east Borneo. It is associated with a range of rather open forest habitats, such as the foothills of the Himalaya or the Western Ghats, and also lives in mangrove forest. It nests in tree holes, laying three or four white eggs. In Malaysian mangroves it prefers to forage on tall Avicennia alba. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident forest bird with a Large range, a stable long-term trend and a currently increasing population (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).