African Jacana Profile: The Lily-Trotter With Remarkable Feet

Jacanas are often called lily-trotters, and watching one stride across a pond covered with water-lily leaves is one of the small delights of an East African boat trip or lakeside walk. They are noisy, active and easy to watch, which makes them a favourite with photographers.

This profile explains how to identify them, how their toes work, why the breeding roles of males and females are unusual and where you can find them.

This guide is part of our animals of Uganda and East Africa guide. When you are ready to plan, see our Uganda safari packages or the Ameera Africa Safaris Uganda tours homepage.

Identification

An adult African jacana has a bright chestnut body and wings, a black stripe running down the back of the neck, a white face and front of the neck with a golden-yellow wash on the breast, and a pale blue shield above the bill. Its legs and toes are greenish-grey. Juveniles are paler and whiter below, with a brown crown and a faint stripe through the eye, and are sometimes mistaken for a different species. The smaller lesser jacana has a more slender build, a duller back and no obvious blue shield, and it is much less common in East Africa.

Those Remarkable Toes

The most distinctive feature of a jacana is the length of its toes and claws, which spread the bird's weight across a wide area. This allows it to walk on floating leaves of water lilies, water lettuce and other aquatic plants, where heavier waders would sink. Jacanas can also swim, and in flight the long legs trail behind the tail, which is a useful identification clue. When alarmed they may crouch low among the vegetation or dive and lie submerged with only the bill above the surface, which helps them avoid predators.

Diet and Feeding

Jacanas feed on the move, picking food from the surface of floating plants and from the mud at the edge of the water. Their diet includes aquatic insects and larvae, snails, small crustaceans and the seeds of water plants, and they sometimes take tiny fish. They turn over leaves with their bills to find prey underneath. They are active in the early morning and late afternoon, and you will often see several birds feeding on the same patch of lilies, with squabbles that involve loud, rattling calls.

Unusual Breeding Roles

The jacana's breeding system is one of the most distinctive among East African birds. Females hold territories and mate with several males, laying separate clutches for different partners. The males incubate the eggs and rear the chicks, and they are able to carry the chicks tucked under their wings, with the long legs of the young dangling below. The eggs are laid in a flimsy nest on floating vegetation. If a threat appears, the male may whisk the chicks away to safety. This reverse of the usual roles is called polyandry.

Habitat and Range

African jacanas occur across sub-Saharan Africa, wherever there are shallow, calm freshwater wetlands with floating vegetation. They like the edges of lakes, swamps, ponds, slow rivers, dams and flooded grassland. They are seen most often on water-lily beds and rarely on fast-flowing or saline water. Local movements follow rains and water levels, so birds may leave temporary pools when they dry. They are often absent from highland areas and from dry country with no permanent water.

Where to See African Jacanas

In Uganda, try the shoreline of Lake Mburo, the channels and wetlands of Queen Elizabeth National Park and the lily-covered pools near Murchison Falls. In Kenya, Lake Naivasha and Lake Baringo are reliable, and in Tanzania Tarangire and the Serengeti pools have them in season. Rwanda's best site is Akagera, where the lakes and papyrus swamps have good lily beds.

Viewing and Photography Tips

A boat trip on a quiet lake is the best approach, because jacanas on floating vegetation allow slow, quiet boats surprisingly close. From the shore, a long lens and patience will do. Photograph from water level where possible, and look for males carrying chicks, which is a special sight. The golden and chestnut tones look best in early or late light. Avoid wading into lily beds, which are fragile habitat. See the East Africa birding guide and safari photography tips.

Related Species

Look in the same places for the hamerkop, goliath heron, yellow-billed stork, crowned crane and kingfishers, all of which depend on healthy wetland margins.

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