Black-rumped Flameback - BirdForum Opus

Alternative names: Lesser Goldenback, Lesser Flame-backed Woodpecker

Nominate subspecies pair, male on left
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Keoladeo National Park, India, July-2016

Dinopium benghalense

Identification

26-29 cm (10¼-11½ in)

• Golden yellow back
• Paler wings
• Black rump and tail
• White underparts with dark chevron markings
• Black throat
• Whitish head
• Black nape and throat
• Grayish eye patch

Male - red crown and crest.
Female - black forecrown spotted with white, with red only on the rear crest..
Young birds are like female, but duller.

Subspecies D. b. puncticolle Male & Female
Photo © by Jamie MacArthur
Goa, India, March 2009

Distribution

Sri Lanka, India, and western Myanmar.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 5 subspecies^[1]:

• D. b. benghalense

• Northern India to Assam and south-western Myanmar

• D. b. dilutum:

• Pakistan and northwestern India

• D. b. tehminae

• southwestern India (Western Ghats)

• D. b. puncticolle:

• Southern India except Western Ghats

• D. b. jaffnense

• Northern Sri Lanka

Habitat

A variety of moist and dry woodland. Primarily deciduous.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of ants, particularly red ants their pupae and larva.

Breeding

They nest in a tree hole The clutch consists of 3 white eggs.

Vocalisation

Recording by Alok Tewari
Keoladeo National Park, India, December-2016
Call given by one individual on arrival at a tree trunk.

Recording by Alok Tewari
[[Delhi, India, 5 January 2021
Three individuals moved into the crown of a large tree, and as they moved around the branches, two of then gave repeat calls.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2021. IOC World Bird List (v11.1). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.11.1. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved July 2016)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-rumped Flameback. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-rumped_Flameback

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