Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

                  Introduction of Pheasant-tailed Jacana

        The pheasant-tailed Jacana ( Scientific Name : Hydrophasianus chirurgus) is  belonging to the family of jacanas, Jacanidae. The jacanas are a group of waders easily identifiable by their big feet and claws which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes

                      How to Identify Pheasant-tailed Jacana

        The Pheasant-tailed Jacana is the only jacana to have a separate breeding plumage, when it is a conspicuous and unmistakable bird. The male sports a long "pheasant"-like tail in the breeding season.
        They are 31 cm (12") long but the females are larger than the males. In the breeding season, the long tail adds another 8 cm. The outermost primaries ( longest wing feathers) have a spatulate extension of 2 cm and the seventh primary has a broad protrusion.
         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 upper parts. The underparts are white, with a weak brown breast band. Length of breeding Jacana is 310 mm 390-580 mm (breeding). Span of wing (with extension of primary) is 190-244 mm in case of adults and 168-228 mm of juveniles. Length of Bill is 23-30 mm.Tarsus is 45-58 mm and Tail:194-376 mm (breeding),110-117 mm (non breeding). Both male and female look alike.  breeding plumage of male is chocolate-brown and white; golden yellow on hind-neck. Dull brown and white; when not breeding, also has blackish necklace and lacks long tail;  Toes are very long and these unusually long toes enable it to walk on the lightest of floating leaves.  They are found solitary or in pairs when breeding and in small flocks in winter. In the non-breeding season the plumage is much drabber and they can be rather inconspicuous treading over the floating leaves.

Beautiful fly of Pheasant-tailed Jacana

                        Habits and Habitats

           The natural ecosystems of these pheasant-tailed jacana species include wetlands like freshwater lakes, marshes, pools, ponds, swamps and flooded grasslands.Both species of Jacanas need ponds and jheels covered with floating vegetation on which they 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.

                  Food

     The Pheasant-tailed Jacana's food is insects, molluscs and other invertebrates, picked from the floating vegetation or the water's surface. They also take frogs and fish. Seeds, tubers, roots are also in their food list

                 Distribution

     The Pheasant-tailed Jacana breeds around lakes, marshes and ponds in Pakistan, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka through Myanmar to southeastern China and Taiwan; south to southeastern Asia and Malay Peninsula, southern Borneo and Phillippines. They are also found up to about 1,500m in Kashmir.
     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.

                 Breeding and Nesting

      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 females  are polyandrous (meaning they form stable unions with more than one male). In one breeding season, a pheasant-tailed jacana female may lay up to ten clutches, to be incubated by several different males. The female pairs up and presents a clutch of 4 eggs to a male. A few days later the female pairs up with another male. The males do most of the incubation and care of the young, although the pair bond seems to remain throughout.

  Next : Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary