Pheasant-tailed jacana

Pheasant-tailed jacana
The breeding plumage is marked by the elongated central tail feathers, white front and wing, and the silky golden nape feathers
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Jacanidae
Genus: Hydrophasianus
Wagler, 1832
Species:
H. chirurgus
Binomial name
Hydrophasianus chirurgus
(Scopoli, 1786)
Synonyms

Parra chinensis
Parra luzonensis
Tringa chirurgus[2]

The pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) is a jacana in the monotypic genus Hydrophasianus. Like all other jacanas, they have elongated toes and nails that enable them to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, their preferred habitat. They may also swim or wade in water reaching their body while foraging mainly for invertebrate prey. They are found in tropical Asia from Yemen in the west to the Philippines in the east and move seasonally in parts of their range. They are the only jacanas that migrate long distances and have different non-breeding and breeding plumages. The pheasant-tailed jacana forages by swimming or by walking on aquatic vegetation. Females are larger than males and are polyandrous, laying several clutches that are raised by different males in their harem.

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Hydrophasianus chirurgus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22693543A93411790. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22693543A93411790.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Viscount Walden, Arthur (1877). "A list of the bird known to inhabit the Philippine Archipelago". Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. 9 (2): 125–252. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1875.tb00238.x.