jaçana

 

(jəkăn'ə, jəkän'ə) , common name for members of the Jacanidae, a family of tropical and subtropical wading birds. Jaçanas, also called lily-trotters and lotus-birds, have long toes and toenails that enable them to walk delicately on floating vegetation as they search for insects and mollusks. Like certain of the related plovers, jaçanas have defensive spurs on the angles of their wings. The American jaçana (10 in./25 cm long), Jacana spinosa, is cinnamon red with striking yellow-green wing patches. The female jaçana is slightly larger than the male, but has similar coloration. It lays about 4 eggs per clutch, which is incubated by the male for three to four weeks. Jaçanas are excellent swimmers and divers and build their nests to float on water. They are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Charadriiformes, family Jacanidae.

Jacanas
Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra gallinacea)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Jacanidae Stejneger, 1885
Species
Microparra capensis - Lesser Jacana Actophilornis africana - African Jacana Actophilornis albinucha - Madagascar Jacana Irediparra gallinacea - Comb-crested Jacana Hydrophasianus chirurgus - Pheasant-tailed Jacana Metopidius indicus - Bronze-winged Jacana Jacana spinosa - Northern Jacana Jacana jacana - Wattled Jacana

The Jacanas are a group of tropical waders in the family Jacanidae. They are found worldwide within the tropical zone.

They are identifiable by their huge feet and claws which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat.

The females are larger than the males; the latter, as in some other wader families like the phalaropes take responsibility for incubation, and some species (notably the Northern Jacana) are polyandrous. However, adults of both sexes look identical, as with most shorebirds.

Food is insects and other invertebrates picked from the floating vegetation or the water’s surface.

Most species are sedentary, but the Pheasant-tailed Jacana migrates from the north of its range into peninsular India and southeast Asia.

External links

• Jacana videos on the Internet Bird Collection

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