Order: Charadriiformes

Family: Jacanidae

Scientific name: Metopidius indicus, Latham, 1790

IUCN Red list status-Least Concern

Did you know?

  1. Bronze winged Jacana has extra ordinary elongated toes which helps them to walk over floating leaves.

Description

Bronze Winged Jacana is 28-32 cm in long and weighs 150-200 grams. The females are larger and weigh 220 to 350 grams. The wings are bronze coloured and have the characteristic white eye stripe. The overall plumage is black. The head and the neck are black with blue gloss. The back, scapulars and upper wing-coverts have greenish gloss. The tail and the vent region are rufous. The under parts are black with green gloss. The bill is large and strong with bright yellow tip, greenish-yellow middle and red tinged base. The legs and toes are long and dull green in colour. Both sexes look similar.

Diet

The diet Bronze-winged Jacana species is Insects, small molluscs, worms, larvae, beetles, seed and plant material are their primary food. The spider like elongated toes helps them to distribute weight and enable it to walk with ease over floating vegetation for food hunting. Forage time is mainly day and sometimes in night. It is done solitarily, pairs or on groups.

Habitat

The main habitat of Bronze-winged Jacana species include wetlands with floating and emergent vegetation, flooded grasslands, peat lands, marshes, bogs, swamps, freshwater lakes, ponds, flooded agricultural lands and water reservoirs. In India it is distributed throughout the union except western part of Rajasthan. They are also found in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Reproductive Behaviour

The breeding season of Bronze-winged Jacana mainly is during monsoon season in South India. These species are polygamous. The female chooses more than one partner in breeding season. Female birds form large territories, which include the territories of 1-4 males. The females defend their territory aggressively from other females. The males also defend their territory from other males. The nest is a skimpy pad of twisted weeds, stems etc and is built by the female. Normally 3-4 eggs are laid. After laying eggs, the male takes over the responsibility of incubation and raising chicks. Meanwhile the female moves to the territory of another male and provides him with another clutch of eggs.

Call

The call is a shrill “seek-seek-seek” and a short harsh grunting sound.

Related Species and Sub Species

 

Migratory Behaviour

Non Migratory, Common Resident.