Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana)

Order: Charadriiformes | Family: Jacanidae  | IUCN Status: Least Concern

wattled jacana
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. Southeast Peru

wattled jacana
Age: Adult and Chick | Sex: Unknown | Loc. Loreto, Peru

wattled jacana
Age: Juveniles | Sex: Unknown | Loc. Amazonian Ecuador

wattled jacana
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. Southeast Peru

Identification & Behavior: ~23 cm (7.9 in). The Wattled Jacana is conspicuous and unmistakable. It has very long legs and toes. The plumage is black with chestnut back and wings. The primary wing feathers are pale yellow, conspicuous in flight. Juveniles have pale underparts, brown upperparts with pale eyebrows.

Status: The Wattled Jacana is common on floating vegetation along Amazonian lake edges. Also local in extreme northwest Peru in similar habitats.  It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Gallito de Agua o Tuqui-Tuqui.

Sub-species: Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana scapularis) Chapman, 1922. Lowlands of W Ecuador and NW Peru.

Jacana jacana peruviana J. T. Zimmer, 1930. NE Peru (lower R Ucayali) and adjacent NW Brazil.

Meaning of Name: Jacana: Tupi (Brazilian)= yassãnã= An alert and noisy bird.

See more of the Family Jacanidae   peru aves

Distribution Map
wattled jacana - jacana jacanaVoice

References:

    • Species range based on: Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, and L. Rico. 2006. Distribution maps of the birds of Peru, version 1.0. Environment, Culture & Conservation (ECCo), The Field Museum.  http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/uw_test/birdsofperu on 7/09/2014.