Pheasant-tailed Jacana
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| Pheasant-tailed Jacana Conservation status: Lower risk (lc) | ||||||||||||||
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| Hydrophasianus chirurgus (Scopoli, 1786) |
The Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Hydrophasianus chirurgus, is a jacana. It is the only member of the genus Hydrophasianus (Wagler, 1832). The jacanas are a group of waders in the family Charadriidae, which 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. They are found worldwide within the tropical zone.
The Pheasant-tailed Jacana breeds in India, southeast Asia and Indonesia. It is sedentary in much of its range, but northern breeders from south China and the Himalaya migrate into peninsular India and southeast Asia.
This jacana lays four black-marked brown eggs in a floating nest. The males, as in some other wader families like the phalaropes, take responsibility for incubation.
This is the only jacana to have a separate breeding plumage, when it is a conspicuous and unmistakable bird. They are 31cm long, but the females are larger than the males. In the breeding season, the long tail adds another 8cm.
Breeding adults are mainly black other than white wings, head and fore neck. The hind neck is golden. There is a striking white eyestripe. The legs and very long toes are grey.
Non-breeding adults lack the long tail. The underparts are white except for a brown breast band and neck stripe. The side of the neck is golden.
Young birds have brown upperparts. The underparts are white, with a weak brown breast band.
The Pheasant-tailed Jacana's food is insects and other invertebrates picked from the floating vegetation or the water’s surface.
Reference
Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater ISBN 0-873403-19-4