Wildlifeof Singapore
Common Flameback
Picidae
Photo: Lip Kee (Singapore) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (May be cropped or resized)
Dinopium javanense
Basic stats
Diet
Invertebrates
Habitat
Moist open forest, scrub and mangrove; lowlands, up to about 1,700m
Range
South and Southeast Asia, from the Western Ghats to the Indochinese peninsula and the Greater Sundas
Clutch size
2–3 eggs
Size
28–30cm
The common flameback, or common goldenback, is a small, three-toed woodpecker, 28–30 cm long, found throughout South and Southeast Asia. Males have a bright red crest and females a black crest with white streaks, and both sexes have a white eyebrow, cheek stripe and throat area separated by black stripes, and a spotted black and white underside. It nests in holes in fruit trees, coconut palms or stumps of those, with two or three eggs (Wikipedia, general species account).
It is shy and secretive and unlikely to be found in urban areas, living in habitats from moist open forest to scrub and mangroves. Its loud, high-pitched call, a series of kow-kowp rattles, is very like the greater flameback's and is the best way to tell it from the almost identical Himalayan flameback. Although it is a woodpecker it rarely drums on wood (Wikipedia, general species account).
Quick answers
- What does the Common Flameback eat?
- Invertebrates
- What habitat does the Common Flameback live in?
- Moist open forest, scrub and mangrove; lowlands, up to about 1,700m
- Where is the Common Flameback found?
- South and Southeast Asia, from the Western Ghats to the Indochinese peninsula and the Greater Sundas
- How many eggs does the Common Flameback lay?
- 2–3 eggs
- How big is the Common Flameback?
- 28–30cm