Actophilornis africanus
Silhouette: Burton Robert, USFWS Β· PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% 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 aktΔ meaning "river bank" or "coastal strand", -philos meaning "-loving" and ornis meaning "bird".
The species is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | π°πͺ Kenya | |
| 2 | Zanzibar City | πΉπΏ Tanzania | |
| 3 | N'Djamena | πΉπ© Chad | |
| 4 | Brazzaville | π¨π¬ Republic of the Congo | |
| 5 | Dakar | πΈπ³ Senegal | |
| 6 | Serrekunda | π¬π² Gambia | |
| 7 | Ouagadougou | π§π« Burkina Faso | |
| 8 | Abuja | π³π¬ Nigeria | |
| 9 | Accra | π¬π Ghana | |
| 10 | Lagos | π³π¬ Nigeria |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | πΊπΈ United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo | πΊπΈ United States | |
| 3 | Pairi Daiza | π§πͺ Belgium | |
| 4 | ZΓΌrich Zoo | π¨π Switzerland | |
| 5 | Walsrode World Bird Park | π©πͺ Germany | |
| 6 | ZooTampa | πΊπΈ United States | |
| 7 | Houston Zoo | πΊπΈ United States | |
| 8 | Tierpark Hagenbeck | π©πͺ Germany | |
| 9 | London Zoo | π¬π§ United Kingdom | |
| 10 | National Aviary | πΊπΈ United States |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report an African Jacana sighting in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, based on 125 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 27th most-seen of the 173 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, April and December
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report an African Jacana in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, against about 50% in January and November, the lowest months. Those are among Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary's driest months, with almost no rain against 55 mm in August. May to October 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.
5th of 43
Of the 43 parks where we can rate African Jacana sightings, Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary ranks 5th at about 60%. The best odds are in Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 70%), Moremi Game Reserve (Botswana, about 70%) and Amboseli National Park (Kenya, about 70%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Charadriiformes
The closest relatives of the African Jacana that you can see in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are Black-winged Stilt (about 80%), Spur-winged Lapwing (about 80%) and Little Stint (about 70%), 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 Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (125 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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 "β". How it works.
