Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Latin Name:

Hydrophasianus chirurgus

Category:

Size:

30cm

Description:

Sexes alike. Male: breeding plumage chocolate-brown and white; goldenyellow on hind-neck. Dull brown and white; when not breeding, also has blackish necklace and lacks long tail; very long toes diagnostic. Solitary or in pairs when breeding; small flocks in winter; purely aquatic, moving on vegetation-covered pond surfaces; unusually long toes enable it to walk on the lightest of floating leaves; quite confiding on village ponds.

Habitat:

ponds and jheels covered with floating vegetation.

Food:

mostly seeds, tubers, roots; also insects, molluscs.

Distribution:

throughout area, up to about 1,500m in Kashmir; occasionally seen much higher.

This, the commonest of the two jacanas, is primarily a breeding summer visitor to our area although a few often overwinter at favoured sites. It is assumed that most birds move further south in India for the winter.

Both species of jacanas need floating vegetation on which to feed and nest but the Pheasant-tailed seems to have adapted more successfully to the exotic water hyacinth that now clogs many of our wetlands.

The species becomes obvious in April and it is seen in good numbers until October. They are very noisy in the breeding season, with the dominant females fighting each other and calling continuously. They often fly around their chosen habitat with their beautiful long tails undulating behind them. The males do most of the incubation and care of the young, although the pair bond seems to remain throughout. In the non-breeding season the plumage is much drabber and they can be rather inconspicuous treading over the floating leaves.