Dinopium psarodes
Silhouette: Pepe Reigada · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~80%
The Red-backed flameback, Lesser Sri Lanka flameback, Sri Lanka red-backed woodpecker or Ceylon red-backed woodpecker (Dinopium psarodes) 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.
It has been considered an endemic species since the time of Legge. It was first placed in the genus Brachypternus as Brachypternus ceylonus. It was later lumped as subspecies of the Black-rumped flameback (Dinopium benghalense), as Dinopium benghalense psarodes. It was elevated to full species status in a study by Sampath S. Seneviratne, Darren E. Irwin, and Saminda P. Fernando.
In this study, it was found to hybridize with the Black-rumped flameback. The hybridization is concentrated north of a border from Trincomalee to the base of Puttalam lagoon and south of a border from Mullaitivu to Mannar. Hybridization is less out of this border, where the Black-rumped flameback dominates north of the border while the Red-backed flameback dominates south of the border. It is a case of Hybrid inferiority, in which the pure species are more successful than the hybrids... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 5 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Sri Lanka Flameback sighting in Minneriya National Park on a given day, based on 149 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 58th most-seen of the 155 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–March and July–September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Sri Lanka Flameback in Minneriya National Park on a given day, against about 10% in May, the lowest month. Those are among Minneriya National Park's driest months, with about 60 mm of rain a month against 340 mm in November.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lesser Sri Lanka Flameback sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
2nd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Lesser Sri Lanka Flameback sightings, Minneriya National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (Sri Lanka, about 40%).
Same family: Picidae
The closest relatives of the Lesser Sri Lanka Flameback that you can see in Minneriya National Park (family Picidae, Woodpeckers) are Brown-capped Woodpecker (about 10%) and Crimson-backed Flameback (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lesser Sri Lanka Flameback is recorded against all the birds logged in Minneriya National Park (149 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
