Chrysocolaptes stricklandi
Silhouette: Pepe Reigada · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The crimson-backed flameback or greater Sri Lanka flameback (Chrysocolaptes stricklandi) is a species of bird in the woodpecker family Picidae that is endemic to Sri Lanka. The crimson-backed flameback and the greater flameback (Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus) were both formerly considered as subspecies of the buff-spotted flameback (Chrysocolaptes lucidus).
Nigel Collar (2011, p. 33) notes the differences between Chrysocolaptes stricklandi and Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus as being that the former has a crimson rather than golden upper body plumage, a yellow rather than a black beak, a weaker supramoustachial stripe and a less noticeable, even spotty, eyebrow stripe.
It takes its binomial name (formerly Brachypternus stricklandi) from Hugh Edwin Strickland (see Layard 1854 p. 29). Media related to Chrysocolaptes stricklandi at Wikimedia Commons Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 5 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Crimson-backed Flameback sighting in Yala National Park on a given day, based on 28 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 167th most-seen of the 220 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, September and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Crimson-backed Flameback in Yala National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–August, October and December–March, the lowest months. Those are among Yala National Park's wettest months, with about 190 mm of rain a month against 35 mm in June.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Crimson-backed 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.
4th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Crimson-backed Flameback sightings, Yala National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%), Sinharaja Forest Reserve (Sri Lanka, about 30%) and Minneriya National Park (Sri Lanka, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Crimson-backed Flameback is recorded against all the birds logged in Yala National Park (28 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.
