Animal field guide
Common Flameback
Dinopium javanense
Tapping and probing bark crevices and dead wood, this medium-sized woodpecker works along trunks and branches in open lowland country of Southeast Asia and the Greater Sunda islands. It pecks directly at the spots where ants and wood-boring larvae hide.
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Get AnimalDexCommon Flameback at a glance
Animal · Southeast Asia · Open lowland woodland · Relatively common
Known for: Golden-olive back with a red rump, Black-and-white striped face and neck, Pale underparts scaled with black, Only three toes on each foot
Animal field guide
Common Flameback
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Tapping and probing bark crevices and dead wood, this medium-sized woodpecker works along trunks and branches in open lowland country of Southeast Asia and the Greater Sunda islands. It pecks directly at the spots where ants and wood-boring larvae hide.
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Open lowland woodland, mangroves, secondary forest, coconut and rubber plantations, parks and large gardens; it tends to avoid dense interior forest.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
25
Speed
50
Size
20
Intelligence
30
Rarity
30%
Total
155
Size scale
STEP 2 · PROVE IT
STEP 3 · BATTLE & FUSE
Understand the animal
Understand the Common Flameback
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
01
Introduction to Common Flameback
Tapping and probing bark crevices and dead wood, this medium-sized woodpecker works along trunks and branches in open lowland country of Southeast Asia and the Greater Sunda islands. It pecks directly at the spots where ants and wood-boring larvae hide.
How to identify a Common Flameback
- Golden-olive back with a red rump
- Black-and-white striped face and neck
- Pale underparts scaled with black
- Only three toes on each foot
Why Common Flameback are interesting
- Pairs keep in touch with a loud, rattling trill, often given in flight between trees.
- It often travels in pairs or family parties and sometimes joins mixed flocks of other birds moving through the trees.
- It is easily confused with the Greater Flameback, which is larger, with a longer bill and four toes on each foot.
- Its scientific name javanense refers to Java, where the species was first described.
02
Adaptations and biological abilities
03
Why does Common Flameback behave this way?
- Golden-olive back with a red rump
- Black-and-white striped face and neck
- Pale underparts scaled with black
- Only three toes on each foot
Tree holes, sometimes old nest cavities, serve as night roosts; activity starts in early morning and continues through the day.
04
Why Open lowland woodland?
Habitat: Open lowland woodland, mangroves, secondary forest, coconut and rubber plantations, parks and large gardens; it tends to avoid dense interior forest.
Native range: Southeast Asia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Some regional overlays are unavailable in this web build.
Open lowland woodland, mangroves, secondary forest, coconut and rubber plantations, parks and large gardens; it tends to avoid dense interior forest.
05
Why this diet?
Mainly ants with their larvae and pupae, beetle grubs and other insects; it also breaks open ant nests on branches.
06
Activity, rest, and lifespan
Tree holes, sometimes old nest cavities, serve as night roosts; activity starts in early morning and continues through the day.
Wild lifespan has not been documented for this woodpecker.
07
Common Flameback reproduction
Pairs excavate a nest hole in a tree trunk or stump. Clutches are usually two or three white eggs; both parents incubate for about two weeks and feed the young.
Males have a red crown and crest; females have a black crown streaked with white.
08
Predators, threats, and defense
Predators of this woodpecker are not well documented. When alarmed it hitches round to the far side of a trunk, keeping the tree between itself and the threat.
09
Conservation and rarity
Rarity: Relatively common · 30/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 30/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
Speak to the animal
Speak to the Common Flameback
It answers as itself: ask about how it lives, or bring it something of yours and hear what it would do, from its own Power.
Anonymous: 3/day. Signed-in: 10/day. Pro: 100/day.
Compare
Compare the Common Flameback
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Battled in the Arena
No one has taken a Common Flameback into an Arena battle yet. Battles players fight with this animal in the AnimalDex app show up here.
Where to find them
Where to find Common Flameback
To find Common Flameback in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside southeast Asia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo than by covering too much ground.
- Quiet marsh edges, reedbeds, river bends, or shallow wetland margins
- Forest edge, canopy gaps, fruiting trees, or shaded trails where cover and food meet
- Sunlit logs, exposed branches, warm rocks, or regular perch sites used for scanning
Where explorers saw it
- Tuk Tuk Safari Tangalle, Cejlon, Südprovinz (Sri Lanka)Aug · 1 sighting
Guides to seeing Common Flameback
Scientific name
Dinopium javanense
Category
Animal
Habitat
Open lowland woodland, mangroves, secondary forest, coconut and rubber plantations, parks and large gardens; it tends to avoid dense interior forest.
Rarity
Relatively common · 30/100
Native range
Southeast Asia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo
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