Black-rumped Flameback
Bengal Birds-4 (সোনালী/সুবর্ণ কাঠঠোকরা)
Throughout the lockdown this bird has worked as my time-clock! This Black-rumped Woodpecker (‘kaththokra’) is very punctual! Every evening it will visit our coconut tree and the other nearby one and from its call there, I know the time is somewhere between 5:30-6 pm.
My first encounter with this Black-rumped Flameback Woodpecker/ Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker was very sudden. While giving a stroll on my rooftop with the zoom lens,
ever-ready to catch a glimpse of any visitor in the surrounding trees, it flew in like a rocket to sit on the air-vent of the wall to catch something, an insect maybe! But those mere few call seconds were enough for me to capture this beautiful bird with very powerful and shrill call. I didn’t know that it exists in my neighborhood! But from then onwards I’ve spotted and photographed this bird regularly. The image below is one of my favourites. Taken while it sat on a neighboring mango tree, around 15-18 feet distance from my balcony. The black forecrown with white spots on it and rear red crest are the signature of a female.
Bengali Name
সোনালী/সুবর্ণ কাঠঠোকরা
Male – Female Distinction
There is significant difference between male and female of this woodpecker species.
Males have red crown and red crest, while females have only red rear crest and black forecrowns with white spots on it.
Residency Status
Resident of West Bengal.
General Behaviors:
- In a sense these birds are quite ‘punctual’. Regularly, they visit coconut trees in my neighborhood around some fixed time-window!
- They are not very shy or afraid of people. Very frequently I’ve found them to fly in and sit on a tree and then climbed it up in a rotating fashion. In this process, they also continuously keep on finding and eating insects.
- Have a very shrill and distinctive voice which sounds similar to a metallic object hitting a concrete floor!
Places where I have found them
They are very common within our city limits and that probably a proof of their adaptability. I’ve found them everywhere, be it in Rabindra Sarobar or Chetla Forest or Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary (CKBS).
