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Wattled Jacana | Jacana jacana
Leljacana | Jacana suramericana
Wattled Jacana is the South American counterpart of Northern Jacana and reaches the northern limit of its range in Panama. It walks on very long toes over floating plants and is recognised by its red frontal shield and the red wattles at the base of the bill. In Panama it is a common lowland resident; in recent decades it has also settled in southern Costa Rica.
Voice
Noisy. Shrill, cackling series, kek-kek-kek or a rasping krrik-krrik, often when flushed and when agitated near the nest or young.
Recording: Jacob Wijpkema — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
21–25 cm, with long legs and very long, grey-green toes. Birds in the guide area are almost entirely glossy black, lacking the chestnut back and wings of birds further into South America. The bill is yellow; the frontal shield and two drooping wattles at the bill base are red. A yellow spur sits at the bend of the wing. In flight the pale yellow-green flight feathers stand out. The female is larger than the male. Juveniles are brown above and white below, with a white supercilium, a dark eye-stripe and a small, reddish shield.
Confusion species
Northern Jacana Jacana spinosa has a yellow, lobed shield without wattles and a chestnut body with black head and neck; in western Panama hybrids with intermediate plumage occur. Juveniles of the two species are hard to separate; the reddish shield of a young Wattled Jacana helps. Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata also has a red shield but is slate-grey, with a white flank line and short toes.
Habitat
Freshwater marshes, ponds, lagoons, sluggish backwaters and ditches with floating plants, wet and flooded pastures and rice fields; in the lowlands. Forages by walking over aquatic plants and along shores for insects and other small animals, sometimes also seeds.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Resident in the lowlands of almost all of Panama, from Chiriquí to Darién. In southern Costa Rica the species has become established and is spreading. In western Panama and adjacent Costa Rica it occurs alongside Northern Jacana and the two species hybridise. Outside the guide area widespread in much of South America east of the Andes, south to northern Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Rice fields, cattle ponds and marshy pastures along the Pan-American Highway in Panama are places where the species is often seen. A jacana with red wattles north of Panama is worth noting, especially in southern Costa Rica.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species is common in Panama, makes use of rice fields and other man-made water, and is extending its range in southern Costa Rica.
Scientific name
Jacana jacana | (Linnaeus, 1766)
Linnaeus described the species in 1766 as Parra Jacana; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Jacana was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. Jacana is the Latinized form of Portuguese jaçanã, derived from a Tupi name for the bird. jacana repeats the genus name, from Portuguese jaçanã, taken from a Tupi name for the bird. The specimen the first description was based on came from Suriname.