African jacanas are conspicuous and unmistakable birds. They are about 30 cm long, but females are larger than males. They have chestnut upperparts with black wingtips, rear neck, and eyestripe. The underparts are also chestnut in the adults, only in juveniles, they are white with a chestnut belly patch. The blue bill extends up as a coot-like head shield, and the legs and long toes are grey. African jacanas feed on insects and other invertebrates picked from the floating vegetation or the surface of the water. African jacanas breed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. It is sedentary apart from seasonal dispersion. It lays four black-marked brown eggs in a floating nest. The jacana has evolved a highly unusually polyandrous mating system, meaning that one female mates with multiple males and the male alone cares for the chicks. The male African jacana has therefore evolved some remarkable adaptations for parental care, such as the ability to pick up and carry chicks underneath its wings.
Info source URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_jacana
Photo capture date & Location: 2019-10 Sabi River
