Actophilornis africanus
Silhouette: Burton Robert, USFWS · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
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 |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an African Jacana sighting in N'Djamena on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 14th most-seen of the 70 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–May and July
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report an African Jacana in N'Djamena on a given day, against about 10% in March, the lowest month. June, August and October–December have too few records to rate.
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.
3rd of 21
Of the 21 cities where we can rate African Jacana sightings, N'Djamena ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in Mombasa (Kenya, about 50%) and Zanzibar City (Tanzania, about 30%).
Same order: Charadriiformes
The closest relatives of the African Jacana that you can see in N'Djamena (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are Spur-winged Lapwing (about 20%), Greater Painted-Snipe (about 20%) and Ruff (about 10%), 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 N'Djamena (27 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.
