28-3-2025 BUNDALA NAT PARK, SRI LANKA - PHEASANT TAILED JACANA (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

The pheasant-tailed jacana, a member of the jacana family, is a distinctive bird with elongated toes and nails that allow it to gracefully traverse floating vegetation in shallow lakes. This species is notable for its seasonal plumage changes and is the only jacana known to undertake long migrations.

In breeding plumage, the pheasant-tailed jacana is easily recognized by its elongated central tail feathers, chocolate brown body, white face, and silky golden nape. The wings are predominantly white, with a black border visible in flight. Non-breeding plumage sees the bird in a more subdued brown with a dark eyestripe and a necklace-like pattern on a white front. Both sexes possess sharp white carpal spurs, with females typically larger than males.

The pheasant-tailed jacana favors shallow lakes rich in floating vegetation, which is essential for its foraging and breeding.

This species is widespread across tropical Asia, from Yemen to the Philippines. It exhibits migratory behavior in parts of its range, with northern populations moving southward during the non-breeding season.

The pheasant-tailed jacana is known for its foraging strategy, which includes both swimming and walking on aquatic vegetation. It is a polyandrous species, with females laying several clutches of eggs that are incubated and raised by different males within their harem.

The bird's vocalizations include a mewing call and a nasal tone among winter flocks. During the breeding season, males and females have distinct calls, with young birds emitting a low cheep.

Breeding occurs on floating vegetation during the rainy season. The female is polyandrous and may lay up to ten clutches, leaving the male to incubate the eggs and raise the young. The eggs are dark olive-brown with glossy black markings. 

The pheasant-tailed jacana can be confused with the bronze-winged jacana, especially in immature birds. However, the presence of white wings and a black stripe on the neck helps distinguish the pheasant-tailed jacana.

Its diet primarily consists of insects, molluscs, and other invertebrates, which it picks from the water's surface or floating vegetation.

The pheasant-tailed jacana is currently listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, indicating that it is not at immediate risk of population decline.

26-3-2025 YALA NAT PARK, SRI LANKA - PHEASANT TAILED JACANA (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

The pheasant-tailed jacana, a member of the jacana family, is a distinctive bird with elongated toes and nails that allow it to gracefully traverse floating vegetation in shallow lakes. This species is notable for its seasonal plumage changes and is the only jacana known to undertake long migrations.

In breeding plumage, the pheasant-tailed jacana is easily recognized by its elongated central tail feathers, chocolate brown body, white face, and silky golden nape. The wings are predominantly white, with a black border visible in flight. Non-breeding plumage sees the bird in a more subdued brown with a dark eyestripe and a necklace-like pattern on a white front. Both sexes possess sharp white carpal spurs, with females typically larger than males.

The pheasant-tailed jacana favors shallow lakes rich in floating vegetation, which is essential for its foraging and breeding.

This species is widespread across tropical Asia, from Yemen to the Philippines. It exhibits migratory behavior in parts of its range, with northern populations moving southward during the non-breeding season.

The pheasant-tailed jacana is known for its foraging strategy, which includes both swimming and walking on aquatic vegetation. It is a polyandrous species, with females laying several clutches of eggs that are incubated and raised by different males within their harem.

The bird's vocalizations include a mewing call and a nasal tone among winter flocks. During the breeding season, males and females have distinct calls, with young birds emitting a low cheep.

Breeding occurs on floating vegetation during the rainy season. The female is polyandrous and may lay up to ten clutches, leaving the male to incubate the eggs and raise the young. The eggs are dark olive-brown with glossy black markings.

The pheasant-tailed jacana can be confused with the bronze-winged jacana, especially in immature birds. However, the presence of white wings and a black stripe on the neck helps distinguish the pheasant-tailed jacana.

Its diet primarily consists of insects, molluscs, and other invertebrates, which it picks from the water's surface or floating vegetation.

The pheasant-tailed jacana is currently listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, indicating that it is not at immediate risk of population decline.

14-3-2020 CHANGARAM WETLANDS KERALA, INDIA - PHEASANT TAILED JACANA (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

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.

The pheasant-tailed jacana is a resident breeder in tropical India, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia; it overlaps greatly in range with the bronze-winged jacana, but, unlike the bronze-winged jacana, is found in Sri Lanka. It is found on small to large lakes having sufficient floating vegetation. It is sedentary in much of its range, but northern breeders from south China and the Himalayas migrate south from their breeding ranges to Southeast Asia and peninsular India, respectively. In Nanking, the birds leave in November and return for summer in the third week of April. Some birds arrive in the non-breeding plumage. The species is resident in Taiwan, where it is considered endangered. Birds disperse in summer and have been recorded as vagrants in Socotra, Qatar, Australia and southern Japan (mainly Okinawa, Yonaguni, Ishigaki and Iriomote). The species tends to be commoner in lower elevations but climbs into the Himalayas in summer, and records exist of the species from altitudes of 3650 m in Kashmir (Vishansar Lake) and 3800 m in Lahul.

24-11-2016 INLE LAKE, MYANMAR - PHEASANT TAILED JACANA (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

The pheasant-tailed jacana's main sources of food are insects, molluscs, and other invertebrates picked from floating vegetation or the water's surface. It forages by walking on vegetation and also by swimming in water, somewhat like phalaropes (although Hoffmann claims that they wade in deeper water but never swim. It also ingests filamentous algae, seeds and plant material, but this may be purely accidental. Flocks of as many as 50 to 100 can be found on a body of water, and they can become tame and habituated to human presence. They usually fly low over the water surface but may also mob raptors higher in the air. On landing, they keep their wings open until they find firm footing.

The typical call is a mewing me-onp or a nasal teeun among winter flocks. Males and females have different calls during the breeding season, and several contextual variants exist. Young birds produce a low cheep with the bill closed.

25-11-2016 INLE LAKE, MYANMAR - PHEASANT TAILED JACANA (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

This jacana breeds on floating vegetation during the rainy season. In southern India, it breeds in the monsoon season, June–September. It is polyandrous; one female may lay up to ten clutches in a single season that are raised by different males. Female court males with flight displays around the males and with calling. The female builds a nest on floating vegetation made of leaves and stalks of plants with a depression in the centre. A single clutch consists of four glossy black-marked dark-olive-brown eggs (occasionally an egg in a clutch may be an odd pale sea-green in colour which are laid in the mornings at 24 hour intervals. 

When an egg is removed at the one- or two-egg stage, the nest is torn down and a new one built, whereas a removal at the three-egg stage does not result in replacement. Once the clutch of four is laid, the male begins incubation and the female leaves to court a different male.

In a study in Thailand it was found that it took a female 17 to 21 days to lay the next clutch. A study in China found females taking 9–12 days and laying nearly 7 to 10 clutches in a season.[18] Males may move or drag eggs around by holding them between the bill and breast or between the wings and body. They may also push and float the eggs over water and onto nearby vegetation platforms when disturbed. Nests may be moved to distances of about 15 metres.  Males near the nest may perform broken-wing and rodent-run displays to distract predators. The eggs are incubated for 26 to 28 days. During the first few days of incubation, the female defends the nest, chasing other waterbirds that may approach too close by flying at them.

In close territorial combat they lock bills and strike simultaneously with both wings. Males actively forage in the morning and afternoon and tend to sit at the nest during the hottest part of the day. The downy nidifugous chicks freeze when threatened or when the male indicates alarm and may lie partly submerged with just the bill out of water.

In close territorial combat they lock bills and strike simultaneously with both wings. Males actively forage in the morning and afternoon and tend to sit at the nest during the hottest part of the day. The downy nidifugous chicks freeze when threatened or when the male indicates alarm and may lie partly submerged with just the bill out of water.

Eggs may be preyed on by pond herons, while chicks may bet taken by birds of prey such as black-winged kites. The trematode parasite Renicola philippinensis was described from the kidney of a pheasant-tailed jacana in the New York Zoological Garden while Cycloceolum brasilianum was recorded in India. The bird louse species Rallicola sulcatus has been described from this species; it looks very similar to Rallicola indicus from the bronze-winged jacana. Another bird louse known from the species is Pseudomenopon pilosum.

25-11-2016 INLE LAKE, MYANMAR - PHEASANT TAILED JACANA (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

This jacana breeds on floating vegetation during the rainy season. In southern India, it breeds in the monsoon season, June–September. It is polyandrous; one female may lay up to ten clutches in a single season that are raised by different males. Female court males with flight displays around the males and with calling. The female builds a nest on floating vegetation made of leaves and stalks of plants with a depression in the centre. A single clutch consists of four glossy black-marked dark-olive-brown eggs (occasionally an egg in a clutch may be an odd pale sea-green in colour which are laid in the mornings at 24 hour intervals. 

When an egg is removed at the one- or two-egg stage, the nest is torn down and a new one built, whereas a removal at the three-egg stage does not result in replacement. Once the clutch of four is laid, the male begins incubation and the female leaves to court a different male.

In a study in Thailand it was found that it took a female 17 to 21 days to lay the next clutch. A study in China found females taking 9–12 days and laying nearly 7 to 10 clutches in a season.[18] Males may move or drag eggs around by holding them between the bill and breast or between the wings and body. They may also push and float the eggs over water and onto nearby vegetation platforms when disturbed. Nests may be moved to distances of about 15 metres.  Males near the nest may perform broken-wing and rodent-run displays to distract predators. The eggs are incubated for 26 to 28 days. During the first few days of incubation, the female defends the nest, chasing other waterbirds that may approach too close by flying at them.

In close territorial combat they lock bills and strike simultaneously with both wings. Males actively forage in the morning and afternoon and tend to sit at the nest during the hottest part of the day. The downy nidifugous chicks freeze when threatened or when the male indicates alarm and may lie partly submerged with just the bill out of water.

In close territorial combat they lock bills and strike simultaneously with both wings. Males actively forage in the morning and afternoon and tend to sit at the nest during the hottest part of the day. The downy nidifugous chicks freeze when threatened or when the male indicates alarm and may lie partly submerged with just the bill out of water.

Eggs may be preyed on by pond herons, while chicks may bet taken by birds of prey such as black-winged kites. The trematode parasite Renicola philippinensis was described from the kidney of a pheasant-tailed jacana in the New York Zoological Garden while Cycloceolum brasilianum was recorded in India. The bird louse species Rallicola sulcatus has been described from this species; it looks very similar to Rallicola indicus from the bronze-winged jacana. Another bird louse known from the species is Pseudomenopon pilosum.