Birda Logo
Features
Birda+
About
Species Guide
Challenges
Shop
loading...
A photo of a Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana)
Wattled Jacana

Wattled Jacana

Jacana jacana

The Wattled Jacana, Jacana jacana, is a distinctive wader known for its striking appearance and remarkable adaptations to an aquatic life. Adults exhibit a chestnut back and wing coverts, contrasting with the predominantly black body. In flight, their greenish-yellow flight feathers catch the eye, as do the yellow bony spurs on the wing's leading edge, used for defense. A red coot-like head shield extends from the yellow bill, accompanied by a reddish wattle, while the legs and elongated toes are a muted blue-grey.

Identification Tips

When identifying the Wattled Jacana, look for the long toes and claws that enable it to traverse floating vegetation with ease. The adult's chestnut and black plumage is unmistakable, as is the red frontal shield and wattle. Juveniles can be recognized by the white underparts and any white present in their plumage.

Habitat

This species is adept at navigating the aquatic vegetation of its habitat, which spans across South America east of the Andes, western Panama, and Trinidad.

Distribution

The Wattled Jacana boasts a broad range, being the only member of the Jacanidae family to be found so extensively across South America, from Trinidad and western Panama down to northern Argentina and Uruguay.

Behaviour

Females of the species are larger than males and are known to form harems with up to four or five males. The Wattled Jacana exhibits a significant difference in size dimorphism, ornamentation, and defense mechanisms between sexes.

Song & Calls

The species is known for its noisy rattling calls, which resonate across its watery domain.

Breeding

In a remarkable reversal of typical bird roles, the male Wattled Jacana takes on incubation duties, holding two eggs between each wing and the breast. Females are polyandrous and will defend the nests of multiple mates.

Similar Species

While the Wattled Jacana is quite distinctive, it does have six subspecies that vary slightly in appearance. Notably, J. j. hypomelaena has black replacing chestnut plumage, and J. j. scapularis features some black feathers on chestnut shoulders and white outer primary feathers.

Diet and Feeding

The diet of the Wattled Jacana includes insects like beetles and grasshoppers, other invertebrates such as ticks and mollusks, small fish, and seeds. They forage on floating vegetation or skim the water's surface for their meals.

Conservation Status

The Wattled Jacana is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, indicating a stable population without immediate threats to its survival.

App logo
Birda is a birdwatching app and community aimed at curious people who want to deepen their connection with nature.

Wattled Jacanas on Birda

Photos
Sightings

More Jacanas

A photo of a African Jacana (Actophilornis africanus)

African Jacana

Actophilornis africanus
Birda Logo

Your birdwatching journey like never before

Connect with nature in minutes
Take a walk, look out of the window and log the birds that you see. Feel good about those little connections to nature.
Discover the joy of birding
Find new birding spots, see more birds, share and celebrate with a like-minded community of nature lovers.
Play your part in saving nature
Logging your birding sightings and sessions turns into positive action for our planet. Every sighting counts.

Birda Blog

What Our Birders Say
SW H
Wonderful App
Birda is my go to app for keeping records of my bird sightings and sessions. It has fantastic information which is great at aiding identification. With all the updates that are coming in the new year, this app is something special.
Louise L
Easy to use and accurate
Love this app. It is easy to use and accurate, Their backup communication is really good. I noted a missing species. All through the process, I was kept informed about the progress in correcting the information. I now have the corrected, updated version. 😁 Thanks!
Amylia S
Best app for any birding person!
I love this app!! I am so addicted to it when I saw it had 3 star review I was so sad! The app is awesome!! The best app for any birding person! ❤️
Mike T
Sense of Community
A great app, which is continually being improved. What really comes through is the passion of those behind the app. The sense of community is brilliant, so much help and support provided to new and/or in experienced birders.
Alex J
Friendly and helps to identify birds
Great birding app, good for logging your sightings, also has nice species guide. I'm enjoying the social aspect more than I expected, everyone seems friendly and helps to identify unknown birds. Good mix of newbies and experienced users.
Marlster24
Recommend for any bird watcher
Very wholesome app: I joined this app with a new interest in watching birds to help me find out what I was spotting. The community is very active in helping identify birds which is great and everyone is very kind so it’s just a nice wholesome community. I would definitely recommend this for any bird spotter 😃
Alice J
Awesome Birding Community
I absolutely love the community aspect of this app. The app is so user friendly and has fun interactive challenges to get you out birding. I’ve tried others but since I’ve started using Birda I’ve not gone back!
Carrie
Makes you want to spot birds more
I think this app is fun. It makes you want to spot birds more so I guess in a way it encourages you to get out and about instead of sitting in front of the TV.
Leonie
We've been waiting for an App like this
Excellent! We've been waiting for an app like this! Thank you! It would be nice if you could assign additional birds to sessions later!
Tralisalandhoop
Fantastic app - Love it!
Love this app and have used it almost daily. Lots of species information and easy to use. Love seeing birds spotted by other users in the UK and worldwide.
As featured in
Birda Logo
AboutPressAmbassadorsAffiliatesInfluencersCareersPrivacyTerms & Conditions
An app for birdwatchers
Connect with us
Copyright © 2024 Chirp Birding. All rights reserved.