![]() The nest hole is usually excavated by the birds and has a horizontal entrance and descends into a cavity. They frequently drum during the breeding season. The breeding season varies with weather and is between February and July. They adapt well in human-modified habitats making use of artificial constructions fallen fruits and even food scraps. As they make hopping movements around branches, they often conceal themselves from potential predators. They feed on insects mainly beetle larvae from under the bark, visit termite mounds and sometimes feed on nectar. They forage from the ground to the canopy. This species is normally seen in pairs or small parties and sometimes joins mixed-species foraging flocks. It is somewhat rare in the Kutch and desert region of Rajasthan. They are often seen in urban areas with wooded avenues. ![]() It is associated with open forest and cultivation. This flameback is found mainly on the plains going up to an elevation of about 1200m in Pakistan, India south of the Himalayas and east till the western Assam valley and Meghalaya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan race psarodes is sometimes considered a distinct species although it is said to intergrade with jaffnense near Puttalam, Kekirawa and Trincomalee. ![]() It hybridizes with the northern Sri Lankan race jaffnense which has a shorter beak. psarodes has a crimson back and all the dark markings are blacker and more extensive. The subspecies found in the Western Ghats is sometimes separated as tehminae (named after the wife of Salim Ali) and is more olive above, has fine spots on the black throat and the wing-covert spots are not distinct. Southern Peninsular form puncticolle has the throat black with small triangular white spots and the upper parts are a bright golden-yellow. The nominate populations is found across India in the low elevations up to about 1000 m. They prefer to breed in old gnarled tamarisks, Acacia and Dalbergia trunks. The race in the arid northwestern India and Pakistan, dilutum, has pale yellow upperparts, a long crest and whiter underparts than the nominate race of the Gangetic plains. A female specimen from Lucknow has been noted to have grown an abnormal downcurved hoopoe-like bill. Two specimens of male birds from the northern Western Ghats have been noted to have red-tipped feathers on the malar region almost forming a malar stripe. The long tongue can be darted forward to capture insects. Like other woodpeckers, this species has a straight pointed bill, a stiff tail to provide support against tree trunks, and zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. ![]() Young birds are like the female, but duller. Females have a black forecrown spotted with white, with red only on the rear crest. The adult male has a red crown and crest. Unlike the Greater Flameback it has no dark moustachial stripes. The head is whitish with a black nape and throat, and there is a greyish eye patch. The black throat finely marked with white immediately separates it from other golden backed woodpeckers in the Indian region. The underparts are white with dark chevron markings. The rump is black and not red as in the Greater Flameback. It has a typical woodpecker shape, and the golden yellow wing coverts are distinctive. The Black-rumped Flameback is a large species at 26–29 cm in length.
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