Yellow-fronted jacana
| Yellow-fronted jacana | ||||||||
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Yellow-fronted jacana ( jacana spinosa ) |
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| Jacana spinosa | ||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The yellow-fronted jacana ( Jacana spinosa ) is an American bird of the order of the plover-like (Charadriiformes).
features
The plumage of the 23 cm long yellow-fronted jacana is black on the head and neck, dark red-brown on the upper sides of the wings and on the back and pale green or yellow on the underside of the wings. The beak and soft, fleshy forehead shield are yellow, and the legs and long toes are colored. The bright yellow spots on the underside of the wing can be seen in flight. Like all species of the genus Jacana, this bird has a short, strong spur on each wing.
Occurrence
The yellow-fronted jacana lives in inland waters overgrown with floating plants in Texas , Arizona , Mexico , Central America and the Caribbean .
Way of life
The yellow-fronted jacana runs with its long toes over lily pad to catch insects, snails and other small invertebrates. This bird is reluctant to swim and often wades in shallow water. He only flies occasionally, hanging his legs.
The yellow-fronted jacana does simultaneous polyandry . That is, a female mates with up to four males, who hatch four black-spotted brown eggs in a floating nest and care for the young. The female does not leave her partner, but maintains a bond with each one.
literature
- Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater ISBN 0-7136-5303-5
- Colin Harrison & Alan Greensmith: Birds. Dorling Kindersly Limited, London 1993,2000, ISBN 3-8310-0785-3
- Bryan Richard: Birds. Parragon, Bath, ISBN 1-4054-5506-3
- Dr. Theo Jahn: Brehm's new animal encyclopedia. Verlag Herder KG, Freiburg im Breisgau Special edition for Prisma Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh 1982, ISBN 3-570-08606-2
Web links
- Jacana spinosa in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on January 1 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Jacana spinosa in the Internet Bird Collection