Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

North­ern ja­canas (Ja­cana spin­osa) range from Mex­ico to Panama, al­though they are some­times seen into the south­ern United States. They occur mainly in coastal areas. In Mex­ico they are found from Tamauli­pas on Gulf of Cal­i­for­nia coast and Sinaloa on the Pa­cific coast south to west­ern Panama. North­ern ja­canas are also found in the An­til­lean is­lands of Cuba, His­pan­iola, Ja­maica, and the West In­dies. (Jenni and Mace, 1999; Kauf­man, 1996)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

North­ern ja­canas in­habit many types of wet­lands in­clud­ing; ponds, marshes and lake mar­gins. Pond edges with abun­dant float­ing veg­e­ta­tion are fa­vored. North­ern ja­canas oc­ca­sion­ally for­age in wet grassy areas and flooded fields. (Jenni and Mace, 1999; Kauf­man, 1996)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial
• freshwater

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams
• temporary pools
• coastal

• Wetlands
• marsh
• swamp

• Other Habitat Features
• suburban
• agricultural
• riparian

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

North­ern ja­canas are medium sized wad­ing birds with long legs and ex­tremely elon­gated toes. Adults are rel­a­tively dark over­all; they have a black neck, head and breast. The back, un­der­sides, and tail are dark ru­fous. They have a yel­low bill with a white base and a yel­low shield on the fore­head. Ju­ve­niles are bi-col­ored with a white un­der­side and a darker back, head, and neck. Ju­ve­niles have a white su­per­cil­ium and white lores. Both adults and ju­ve­niles have con­spic­u­ous yel­low flight feath­ers that are vis­i­ble when they raise their wings. North­ern ja­canas av­er­age 241 mm in length with a wingspan av­er­ag­ing 508 mm. Males were found to be sig­nif­i­cantly smaller than fe­males. A study from Costa Rica showed that fe­males weighted 145.4g and males weighed 86.9 on av­er­age. (Jenni and Col­lier, 1972; Sib­ley, 2003)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Range mass

  86.9 to 145.4 g

  3.06 to 5.12 oz

• Average length

  241 mm

  9.49 in

• Average wingspan

  508 mm

  20.00 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

The breed­ing sys­tem in north­ern ja­canas is un­usual and is an ex­am­ple of polyandry. Both males and fe­males will de­fend ter­ri­to­ries against other mem­bers of the same sex. Fe­males mate with up to four in­di­vid­ual males and lay eggs as fre­quently as every nine days. Males may be polyg­a­mous when new fe­males ar­rive. When north­ern ja­canas breed, males build plat­forms that are used for so­lic­i­ta­tion dis­plays and cop­u­la­tion. The plat­forms are then used as nests. The fe­male or the male may so­licit to each other and this be­hav­ior leads to cop­u­la­tion. So­lic­i­ta­tion is done by call­ing or pos­tur­ing and it can be ini­ti­ated by the male or the fe­male. When the fe­male as­sumes a pre-cop­u­la­tory po­si­tion, the male may fly up 10 me­ters or more be­fore fly­ing back down, land­ing on her back or land­ing along­side and hop­ping on her back. The male may ini­ti­ate a mat­ing event by as­sum­ing the pre-cop­u­la­tory po­si­tion and the fe­male then joins him. Most cop­u­la­tion at­tempts are un­suc­cess­ful. When they are suc­cess­ful, the male gives dis­tinct calls. So­lic­i­ta­tion and cop­u­la­tion occur less often once a male has eggs in his nest, but may occur again when the young are 4 to 5 weeks old. (Jenni and Col­lier, 1972; Sib­ley, 2001)

• Mating System
• polyandrous

Al­though north­ern ja­canas are ca­pa­ble of breed­ing all year long, they usu­ally breed at the be­gin­ning of the rainy sea­son. Dur­ing that time, fe­males mate with up to four males and lay eggs as fre­quently as every nine days. Males may be polyg­a­mous when new fe­males ar­rive, but extra pair cop­u­la­tions are not known to occur when the fe­male holds her ter­ri­tory. When north­ern ja­canas breed, males build plat­forms that are used for so­lic­i­ta­tion dis­plays and cop­u­la­tion. The plat­forms are then used as nests. As in many other mem­bers of the order Charadri­iformes, four eggs are typ­i­cally laid per clutch. The male typ­i­cally sits on the eggs and adds nest­ing ma­te­r­ial in the form of aquatic plants pe­ri­od­i­cally. The fe­male may visit the nest site on oc­ca­sion and shade the eggs. The eggs hatch in around 28 days. The young leave the nest around 24 hours after hatch­ing and will fol­low the male to good for­ag­ing spots. Be­cause fe­males may have sev­eral mates, some or all of the young that he raises may not be his. The de­vel­op­ment time in north­ern ja­canas is slow; young fledge in around 8 weeks and may stay in their natal ter­ri­tory for more than 12 months. (Jenni and Col­lier, 1972; Jenni and Mace, 1999)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Time between breeding efforts in males is not known.

• Breeding season

  Breeding corresponds with the start of the rainy season, which varies throughout the species range.

• Average eggs per season

  4

• Average time to hatching

  28 days

• Average fledging age

  57.2 days

• Range time to independence

  12 (low) months

In north­ern ja­canas, males ex­clu­sively con­struct nests, in­cu­bate eggs, and care for the young. Fe­males do not help to raise off­spring gen­er­ally, but may pro­vide some de­fense against preda­tors. Males build a nest on the plat­form that was used for so­lic­i­ta­tion and cop­u­la­tion. After the fe­male lays eggs in the nest the male con­tin­ues to build the nest by fling­ing ma­te­r­ial over his shoul­der in the di­rec­tion of the nest site. Brood­ing is mainly done in the morn­ing and evening. Dur­ing rainy con­di­tions, cool tem­per­a­tures and times of in­creased cloud cover, the amount of time spent brood­ing in­creases. The young leave the nest at about 24 hours after hatch­ing. At that point the male leads the nestlings to good for­ag­ing sites and con­tin­ues to pro­tect them. (Betts and Jenni, 1991; Jenni and Mace, 1999; Sib­ley, 2001)

• Parental Investment
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Lit­tle is known about lifes­pan in north­ern ja­canas. One male held his ter­ri­tory for 6.5 years and had to be around 2 years old to have a ter­ri­tory in the first place. (Jenni and Mace, 1999)

Be­hav­ior

North­ern ja­canas are highly so­cial and fre­quently occur in small colonies with a dom­i­nant fe­male and 1 to 4 males. North­ern ja­canas are di­ur­nal and spend much of their time walk­ing on emer­gent veg­e­ta­tion and search­ing for aquatic in­sects and seeds. They pick food off of the sur­face of plants, the sur­face of the water, or just below the water. Their feet are highly spe­cial­ized for this for­ag­ing be­hav­ior. Their small size and large feet allow these birds to ex­ploit this for­ag­ing habi­tat, as they can eas­ily sup­port their weight on sur­face aquatic veg­e­ta­tion. (Jenni and Col­lier, 1972; Kauf­man, 1996)

• Key Behaviors
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Home Range

North­ern ja­canas have spe­cific home ter­ri­to­ries that they use for breed­ing and feed­ing. Male ter­ri­to­ries av­er­aged 0.36 acres and fe­male ter­ri­to­ries av­er­aged 0.88 acres at one site in Costa Rica. Fe­male ter­ri­to­ries con­tain be­tween one and four males, which they breed with. Fe­males help in main­tain­ing the ter­ri­to­ries of the males by in­ter­ven­ing on be­half of the res­i­dent male when there is a ter­ri­to­r­ial dis­pute with an­other male. If the fe­male loses her ter­ri­tory to an­other fe­male, then the new­comer will have ac­cess to the males in that ter­ri­tory. Male ter­ri­to­ries may last con­sid­er­ably longer than fe­male ter­ri­to­ries. A male in Costa Rica held a ter­ri­tory for 6.5 years and the own­er­ship by fe­males changes 10 times in the same time pe­riod. (Jenni and Col­lier, 1972; Jenni and Mace, 1999)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

North­ern ja­canas com­mu­ni­cate with vi­sual dis­plays and calls. Re­peated-note calls are given in a wide va­ri­ety of sit­u­a­tions. Notes with high am­pli­tude, note length, and du­ra­tion are used when the bird is under phys­i­cal at­tack or when it can't fend off an in­trud­ing con­spe­cific. The na­ture of the re­peated note calls say a lot about the in­ten­tion of the caller. North­ern ja­canas also com­mu­ni­cate by giv­ing groups of notes. This is most often given by males when his chicks are near. Flight calls are also given. Threat dis­plays are given by out­stretch­ing the wings and point­ing them for­ward. Males may do a sub­mis­sive dis­play in the pres­ence of fe­males in which they crouch down. Dur­ing the sub­mis­sive dis­play the male swings his head lat­er­ally while the fe­male pecks at the base of his neck. (Jenni and Mace, 1999)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

North­ern ja­canas eat what­ever in­sects they can glean off of aquatic plant sur­faces. They turn over float­ing plants using their feet and bills while search­ing for in­sects hid­ing on the un­der-sur­face (Sib­ley 2001).They also eat flow­ers that are opened by pur­ple gallinules (Por­phyrio mar­tinica) . Adults will oc­ca­sion­ally take small fish. In a closely re­lated species, wat­tled ja­canas (Ja­cana ja­cana), the diet was made up of 20% seeds, with most seeds from spikerush (Eleocharis species), and 80% in­ver­te­brates, mainly in­sects. (Jenni and Col­lier, 1972; Os­borne and Bourne, 1977)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore

• Animal Foods
• fish
• insects
• aquatic crustaceans

• Plant Foods
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• flowers

Pre­da­tion

Pos­si­ble preda­tors in­clude boa con­stric­tors (Boa con­stric­tor), spec­ta­cled caimans (Caiman croc­o­dilus), snap­ping tur­tles (Chely­dra ser­pentina) and var­i­ous rap­tors and mam­mals. Pur­ple gallinules (Por­phyrio mar­tinica) are the most com­mon preda­tors of north­ern ja­cana eggs and off­spring, they will take them out of nests when the male is away. For this rea­son, north­ern ja­canas will at­tack pur­ple gallinules when they see them in their ter­ri­tory. At­tacks con­sist of aer­ial at­tacks and charg­ing with wings spread on the sub­strate. At­tacks are ac­com­pa­nied by re­peated-note calls. (Jenni and Mace, 1999; Stephens, 1984)

• Known Predators

  • purple gallinules (Porphyrio martinica)
  • boa constrictors (Boa constrictor)
  • spectacled caimans (Caiman crocodilus)
  • snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina)

Ecosys­tem Roles

North­ern ja­canas are pre­sum­ably im­por­tant sec­ondary con­sumers in the marshy habi­tats they in­habit. At a 2.8 hectare pond in Costa Rica be­tween 20 and 25 ja­canas were pre­sent at a given time. Given the fact that they are rel­a­tively small, en­dother­mic an­i­mals, they pre­sum­ably have a high caloric re­quire­ment. Be­cause of this, ja­canas prob­a­bly con­trol in­sect pop­u­la­tions. North­ern ja­canas also con­tribute to the en­er­getic needs of pur­ple gallinules (Por­phyrio mar­tinica). (Jenni and Mace, 1999)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Al­though north­ern ja­canas pro­vide no di­rect ben­e­fits to hu­mans, they are cer­tainly a source of en­joy­ment for nat­u­ral­ist and bird­ers.

• Positive Impacts
• ecotourism

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of north­ern ja­canas on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

North­ern ja­canas ap­pear to be com­mon through­out most of their range, but could be­come vul­ner­a­ble with loss of wet­lands. (Kauf­man, 1996)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  Protected

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Ryne Ruther­ford (au­thor), North­ern Michi­gan Uni­ver­sity, Alec R. Lind­say (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), North­ern Michi­gan Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

Betts, B., D. Jenni. 1991. Time bud­gets and the adap­tive­ness of polyandry in north­ern ja­canas. Wil­son Bul­letin, 103: 578-597.

Jenni, D., G. Col­lier. 1972. Polyandry in the Amer­i­can Ja­cana. The Auk, 89: 743-765.

Jenni, D., T. Mace. 1999. "The North­ern Ja­cana (Ja­cana spin­osa), The birds of North Amer­ica On­line" (On-line). Ac­cessed April 08, 2008 at http://​bna.​birds.​cornell.​edu/​bna/​species/​467.

Kauf­man, K. 1996. Lives of North Amer­i­can birds. Boston, NewYork: Houghton Mif­flin Com­pany.

Os­borne, D., G. Bourne. 1977. Breed­ing Be­hav­ior and Food habits or the Wat­tled Ja­cana. The Con­dor, 79: 98-105.

Sib­ley, D. 2003. The Sib­ley Guide To Birds of East­ern North Amer­ica. New York: Al­fred A. Knopf.

Sib­ley, D. 2001. The Sib­ley Guide to Bird Life and Be­hav­ior. New York: Al­fred. A Knopf.

Stephens, M. 1984. In­ter­spe­cific Ag­gres­sive be­hav­ior of the Polyan­drous North­ern Ja­cana (Ja­cana spin­osa). The Auk, 101: 508-518.