COMB-CRESTED JACANA
Irediparra gallinacea
DESCRIPTION
The Comb-crested Jacana is a distinctive wetland bird with incredibly long toes and a bright red comb on its forehead. Its long legs and enormous feet allow it to spread its weight across floating vegetation, giving the impression that it is walking on water.
QUICK FACTS
• The Comb-crested Jacana is sometimes called the Jesus Bird because it appears to walk on water.
• Its extremely long toes spread its weight across floating leaves.
• Young chicks have oversized feet almost from the moment they hatch.
• The female is larger than the male and may mate with several males.
• The male builds the nest, incubates the eggs and takes most responsibility for caring for the chicks.
• When danger approaches, a male can shelter his chicks beneath his wings and carry them to safety.
• Jacanas are excellent swimmers despite being best known for walking across waterlilies.
WHERE IT LIVES
Comb-crested Jacanas are found across northern and eastern Australia as well as parts of New Guinea and Southeast Asia. They favour freshwater wetlands, billabongs, lagoons and floodplains with plenty of floating plants such as waterlilies and lotus.
WHAT IT EATS
Jacanas feed on insects, small aquatic animals, seeds and other plant material. They walk across floating vegetation, using their long toes to search amongst the leaves and around the water’s surface for food.
PETE'S PHOTO STORY
The Comb-crested Jacana is one of my favourite wetland birds to photograph. I photographed this one at Yellow Water at Cooinda, walking across a huge floating leaf amongst the waterlilies. Watching it step effortlessly from leaf to leaf explains why people call it the Jesus Bird. Its enormous feet and incredibly long toes spread across the leaf, showing perfectly how this little bird is able to seemingly walk on water.