Pheasant Tailed Jacana

The Jacanas are a group of tropical waders which belong to the family Jacanidae.

The Pheasant tailed Jacana with the scientific name Hydrophasianus chirurgus is one of the Jacanas found in the Indian subcontinent.

These species belong to the monotypic genus Hydrophasianus. The quick classification of this pheasant-tailed Jacana is given below,

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Aves
Order	Charadriiformes
Family	Jacanidae
Genus	Hydrophasianus
Species	Hydrophasianus chirurgus

Physical Characteristics:

The length of these Pheasant tailed jacana including its tail is 39 to 58 fm (15 to 23 in). Length of these species' tail in its total length is 25 cm (9.8 in). The body mass of the male Pheasant tailed jacana is 113 to 135 g (4 to 4.8 oz). The body mass of the Female Pheasant tailed jacana is 205 to 260 g (7.2 to 9.2 oz). Female Pheasant tailed jacanas are comparatively larger when compared to male Pheasant tailed jacana. The outer most primaries of these species have a extension in a range of 2 cm and its seventh primary have a broad protrusion.


Adult Pheasant tailed jacana has brown upperparts during the breeding times. It has a black outermost primary fight feathers. The wings of this Pheasant tailed jacana is in black colour other than white wings. The under parts of this jacana is in white colour with a brown breast band. The neck of these species is in golden colour. The toes and legs of this bird are in grey colour. It has a striking eye stripe which is in white colour. The upperwing of this bird is in white colour with a black tip.

The preferable habitat for these pheasant tailed jacana is floating vegetation and shallow waters.

These species can swim and feed in the open and shallow water since they can walk through these places.

This pheasant tailed jacana is frequently seen in large fresh water wet lands, ponds, lakes which have a floating vegetation. It also commonly found in the wet lands which have water lilies, lotus and other aquatic plants. The habitat of this bird is the fresh water ponds and margins of lakes.

Behavior

These Pheasant tailed jacanas create a far carrying mewing call like "me – e – ou" and "me – onp" with some shorter variants in the breeding season. In the winter season, it sometime makes a call like �tewn�. This species look so graceful when they walk along the floating vegetation.

Migration

Most of these species are sedentary in nature. Sometimes it takes some local movements based on the weather conditions and water level in the location. These species migrate from the Himalayas to the Peninsular region of India during the breeding season.

Food Habits

The major food for these species is insects which are found on the water surface. These species also prefer invertebrates which are picked from the roots of some trees and aquatic vegetation like seeds and ovules of water lilies and lotus as their food. These species use their bill to grasp the roots and pick the invertebrates like snails and crustaceans.

These species are one of the birds which are commonly found in the Indian subcontinent.

These species are also found in the countries of South East Asia like Indonesia, etc. These species sometimes breeds in some places in South China and Peninsular India.

These Pheasant tailed jacanas are also found in Taiwan and Australia. The native places for these Pheasant tailed jacana other than India is Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Malaysia Indonesia, Japan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. The bird sanctuaries which have this Pheasant tailed jacana in India are given below,

1. Kuthakulam Bird Sanctuary in Tamilnadu
2. Nawabgang Bird Sanctuary in Unnao district of Uttar Pradhesh
3. Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary in Jamnagar district of Gujarat.

Mating and Nesting

The Pheasant tailed Jacana's mating behavior is reversed when compared to other species in the world. In these species, male jacanas take part in most of nesting activities like building the nest for breeding and incubation and breeding the eggs. These male jacanas accompany the precocial chicks when the chicks get feeding.

These Pheasant tailed jacana build the nests on floating vegetation. They use the pieces of aquatic plants and stems for building the nests. The Male Pheasant tailed jacanas usually build the nest. Sometimes these species' nests can be destroyed when the water in their place begins to rise. Because of this, the male jacana move the clutches to any of the drier location nearby to its nest. The male Pheasant tailed jacana carry the eggs by gripping the eggs between its breast and throats.

The female Pheasant tailed jacanas perform the activities like predator defense, resting and preening the vicinity of the young jacanas. These species breed in the duration of March to July. In Southern India, these species breed in the monsoon season between June and September. These species belong to the polyandrous mating category. Female Pheasant jacanas mate with several male jacanas.

But the behavior of these species during mating depends on the quality and size of the male jacanas territory.

A female Pheasant tailed jacana can lay several clutches per season. These species can lay up to 10 clutches at a time. The egg size of this Pheasant tailed jacana is 35 mm in length and 28 mm in width.

The incubation period for this bird is 22 to 24 days. If some intruders or predators are found nearby these species nesting place, the female Pheasant tailed jacanas will perform some threat displays like extending their wing partially or fully and coruscated posture with neck and head up while approaching.

Threats and conservation

The main cause for the threats of these Pheasant tailed jacanas is human disturbances in the shallow water which causes the loss of eggs and nests of these species. These species are also threatened by drainage of wetlands for the agriculture expansions. Since these species can lay several clutches per season, they are not declared as a threatened species globally.

Interesting facts about the Pheasant Tailed Jacana

1. There are 8 species of jacanas recognized in the world. Among that 2 species of jacanas are commonly found in India. That is, Pheasant-tailed Jacana Hydrophasianus chirurgus and Bronze-winged Jacana Metopidius indicus.
2. The female Pheasant tailed jacanas are very colorful than the Male jacanas.
3. This species is the only bird in the Jacanidae family which have a different breeding plumage.
4. The Pheasant-tailed Jacana is one of a conspicuous and unmistakable bird in the world.