Alternative Name: Common Goldenback
- Dinopium javanense
Identification
Size - 30cm (12in). Golden mantle and wings, red lower back and rump, white face with two black malar strips and largely black hindneck with white sides of neck together with whitish underparts marked with blackish scales, distinctive. Throat and face tinged rufous or buff. Has three toes. Brown iris.
Male - Crown and pointed crest red (in picture). Female - Crown and crest black with whitish spots from forehead to the tip of the crest.
Difficult to separate from Greater Flameback (Goldenback) from lateral view, especially at a distance. Best separated by colour of iris and hindneck pattern.
Distribution
India to Indochina; Greater Sundas; Philippines.
Taxonomy
Dinopium javanense (Ljungh, 1797). Belongs to the Picidae family.
Subspecies[1]
Dinopium javanense malabaricum Wet woodlands of w India
Dinopium javanense intermedium Bangladesh and Assam to Burma, sw China and Indochina
Dinopium javanense javanense Peninsular Thailand to Sumatra, Riau Arch., w Java and Borneo
Dinopium javanense exsul E Java and Bali
Dinopium javanense raveni Eraban I. and adjacent ne Borneo
Dinopium javanense everetti S Philippines (Balabac, Palawan and Calamian Islands)
Habitat
Mangroves, forest edges, peat swamp forests, coastal scrub and plantations.
Behaviour
Usually seen in pairs, largely on tree trunks and stems probing soft bark for insects and grubs. Very social, regularly call out to each other.
Vocalisation
Voice: a sharp churrrr and klek-klek in flight.
