
Greater Flameback on palm tree, Udawalawa, Sri Lanka
At 80% of our trip through Sri Lanka, we were increasingly focusing on a short list of species we did not see yet, one of which was to see a flameback, any species of it. Unfortunately the above spotting was too far away for a good photo, yet we were satisfied to see it at all. I've based the identification on its yellow eyes and back feathers, which only this option according to my Sri Lankan birds book.

The greater flameback also known as greater goldenback, large golden-backed woodpecker or Malherbe's golden-backed woodpecker, is a woodpecker species. It occurs widely in the Indian subcontinent, eastwards to southern China, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, western and central Java and northeast Borneo.