Dinopium benghalense
Silhouette: Pepe Reigada · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The black-rumped flameback (Dinopium benghalense), also known as the lesser golden-backed woodpecker or lesser goldenback, is a woodpecker found widely distributed in the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the few woodpeckers that are seen in urban areas. It has a characteristic rattling-whinnying call and an undulating flight. It is the only golden-backed woodpecker with a black throat and a black rump.
The black-rumped flameback was described and illustrated by two pre-Linnaean English naturalists from a dried specimen that had been brought to London. In 1738 Eleazar Albin included the bird as the "Bengall Woodpecker" in his A Natural History of Birds and in 1751 George Edwards included the "Spotted Indian Woodpecker" in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. The black-rumped flameback was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Picus benghalensis. He cited the earlier descriptions by Albin and Edwards. This woodpecker is now placed in the genus Dinopium that was introduced by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1814.
Five subspecies are recognised: The... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 9 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Gir National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 15 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 16 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 17 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 18 | Eravikulam National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 19 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 20 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 21 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-rumped Flameback sighting in Agra on a given day, based on 28 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 84th most-seen of the 119 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-rumped Flameback in Agra on a given day, against under 5% in May–August, October and December–February, the lowest months. That is one of Agra's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 190 mm in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-rumped Flameback sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
49th of 57
Of the 57 cities where we can rate Black-rumped Flameback sightings, Agra ranks 49th at about 10%. The best odds are in Savar (Bangladesh, about 70%), Tamluk (India, about 60%) and Thiruvananthapuram (India, about 60%).
Same order: Piciformes
The closest relatives of the Black-rumped Flameback that you can see in Agra (order Piciformes, Woodpeckers and Allies) are Brown-headed Barbet (about 40%) and Coppersmith Barbet (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-rumped Flameback is recorded against all the birds logged in Agra (28 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
