Common flameback

There are six subspecies currently recognized:[7]

• Dinopium javanense javanense - native to peninsular Thailand south to Sumatra, including Riau Archipelago, and western Java[5]
• Dinopium javanense malabaricum - native to southwest India[5]
• Dinopium javanense intermedium - the largest of the subspecies (weighing 79–100 g) and native to Bangladesh, eastern Myanmar and southern China (southwest Yunnan province)[5]
• Dinopium javanense borneonense - native to Borneo, except for northeast Borneo[5]
• Dinopium javanense raveni - native to northeast Borneo and offshore islets[5]
• Dinopium javanense exsul - native to eastern Java and Bali[5]

The common flameback is a relatively quiet species, who rarely produces noise despite being able to produce many different sounds. Although it belongs to the woodpecker family, it surprisingly rarely drums on wood, as it has a different foraging behaviour.[9] There have been instances of soft and low nest drumming, during which the male softly tapped his nest with his beak while also raising his crest. This action may be in response to the researcher’s persistent presence near the nest, as the drum timing and low level of aggression does not point to it being a mating display.[9]

The common flameback has a variety of different vocalizations it makes. The first notable one being the “wicka call’, which lasts about four seconds in duration and can be uttered by one or both of the birds in a pair. It consists of three kinds of notes; a vertical, inverted U-shaped note, a slow dropping note, and a short, inverted V-shaped note.[9] Another vocalization is the “kow call”, which consists of a single or double, non-harmonic note. The “kowp call” appears to be a more complex version of the “kow call”, as it consists of a variety of modified or unmodified “kow call” notes.[9] This call is mainly heard while the bird is taking of, flying, or landing, which indicates that this is an alarm call to warn other birds of a potential threat. The final call is the “rattle call”, which is usually heard following the “kowp call”. It is a call with varying length, consisting of a fast series of 17-57 notes lasting anywhere from 0.72 to 2.56 seconds.[9]

The foraging methods of the common flameback are diverse, but generally there is little to no “wood pecking” involved. There has been evidence of them hammering at young trees to shed the bark, however this action is rarely observed.[9] As their beak is relatively small, they are more adapted to a gleaning and probing foraging method, which produces no noise by the species. Their movements are abrupt, as they remain motionless and quiet for long periods of time before lurching and rapidly pecking at passing insects. As strict insectivores, their main diet consists of mainly ants as those are the most prevalent, however they are known to hawk slow-flying insects out of the air and glean other tree-crawling invertebrates.[9] The odd foot morphology allows them to hop quickly and effectively, as their three toes allow for a large range of movement. As they hop around the trees, they maintain two toes in front and one in the back, however, when they are resting they group all three toes together in the front.[9] Additionally, the sexes usually forage on different trees, maintaining vocal and visual contact. If one bird lands near another, they move apart to opposite sides of the tree and display some “peeking” behaviour, as well as some crest raising, which is observed in both sexes.[9]

There is a limited amount of information on the reproduction and mating of the common flameback. Some accounts describe that there are no displays during copulation, other than a raised crest from the male as he mounts the female.[9] Other accounts state that there is a short mating display, which consists of crest-raising from both sexes, bowing movements, head swinging, and even males courtship feeding the females. They nest in holes in fruit trees, coconut palms or stumps of those tree varieties, and have 2 or 3 egg clutch sizes.[5]