Actophilornis africanus
Silhouette: Burton Robert, USFWS · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The African jacana (Actophilornis africanus) is a wader in the family Jacanidae. It has long toes and long claws that enable it to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, its preferred habitat. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. For the origin and pronunciation of the name, see Jacanidae.
The African jacana was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Parra and coined the binomial name Parra africana. Gmelin based his description on that by the English ornithologist John Latham who in 1785 had described and illustrated the species in his A General Synopsis of Birds. Gmelin and Latham gave the locality as "Africa": this was restricted to Ethiopia in 1915. The African jacana is now placed in the genus Actophilornis that was introduced in 1925 by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek aktē meaning "river bank" or "coastal strand", -philos meaning "-loving" and ornis meaning "bird".
The species is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 4 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 5 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 6 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 7 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 8 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 9 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 10 | Lagos | 🇳🇬 Nigeria |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Pairi Daiza | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 4 | Zürich Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 5 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | ZooTampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Tierpark Hagenbeck | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | London Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | National Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Jacana sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 31 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 146th most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Jacana in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in February to December, the lowest months. That is one of Cape Town's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 140 mm in June.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Jacana sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
21st of 21
Of the 21 cities where we can rate African Jacana sightings, Cape Town ranks 21st at under 5%. The best odds are in Mombasa (Kenya, about 50%), Zanzibar City (Tanzania, about 30%) and N'Djamena (Chad, about 30%).
Same order: Charadriiformes
The closest relatives of the African Jacana that you can see in Cape Town (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are Hartlaub's Gull (about 50%), Dominican Gull (about 40%) and Blacksmith Lapwing (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Jacana is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Town (31 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
