Malabar Flameback Chrysocolaptes socialis

A large, crested woodpecker with a golden-olive back endemic to wet lowland and foothill forests in southwestern India. Separated from Common Flameback and other “small-billed” flamebacks by a much larger bill, a mottled black-and-white nape instead of a black nape, and a divided black horizontal stripe below the cheek. Separated from the similarly large-billed White-naped Woodpecker by the less clean-cut face pattern, a red rump, the lack of a clean white nape, and a preference for wetter habitat. A loose participant in mixed-species foraging flocks, often detected by its loud, high-pitched trill similar to that of Common Flameback.