The Red-backed flameback, Lesser Sri Lanka flameback, Sri Lanka red-backed woodpecker or Ceylon red-backed woodpecker is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka, only absent in the far-north. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the Black-rumped flameback.
Region
South Asia
Typical Environment
Occurs across much of Sri Lanka except the far north, using a variety of wooded habitats from lowland rainforests to dry-zone scrub and cultivated landscapes. It regularly visits coconut and other palms, dead snags, and edge habitats where insect prey is abundant. The species adapts well to human-modified areas, including home gardens and urban parks with mature trees. It nests and forages in cavities and on trunks and larger branches, probing for larvae beneath bark.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1500 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This striking woodpecker is endemic to Sri Lanka and is sometimes treated as a split from the Black-rumped Flameback. It frequents forests, coconut groves, and even village gardens, where its loud calls and drumming are often heard before it is seen. Males carry a vivid red crest, while females have a darker, spotted crown.
Painting by John Gerrard Keulemans, marked as Brachypternus ceylonus, painted in 1878.
Male of reddish orange hybrid form, presumably juvenile. Orange can clearly be seen, indicating a hybrid.
Female head, which clearly shows the spots on forecrown and forehead, streaks between eye and nape, and spots on throat.
Female making a nest cavity or foraging.
Scaling a tree
Temperament
active and wary
Flight Pattern
undulating flight with strong bursts of wingbeats
Social Behavior
Usually seen singly, in pairs, or as family parties, and will join mixed-species flocks in forests. Excavates nest cavities in dead or decaying wood; both sexes participate in digging and incubation. Clutches are typically small, and both parents feed the young.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Vocal and conspicuous, giving sharp, ringing kik-kik-kik notes that accelerate into a rattling series. Also communicates by rapid drumming on resonant dead wood, especially during the breeding season.
Plumage
Red to crimson back and mantle with golden-olive wings barred in black; underparts pale with dark spotting and streaking. Face shows bold black-and-white striping with a pale throat and moustachial area. Tail is dark and sturdy, adapted for bracing on trunks.
Diet
Feeds primarily on ants, beetles, and their larvae, as well as termites and other wood-boring insects. Probes under bark, hammers into decayed wood, and gleans from trunks and larger branches. Will occasionally take small arthropods from foliage and may sample fruit or sap opportunistically.
Preferred Environment
Forages on tree trunks, palm stems, and fallen logs, especially where dead wood and loose bark are available. Common in forest edges, plantations, and gardens with mature trees.
