Actophilornis africanus
Silhouette: Burton Robert, USFWS · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% 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 |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report an African Jacana sighting in Mana Pools National Park on a given day, based on 234 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 32nd most-seen of the 275 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report an African Jacana in Mana Pools National Park on a given day, against about 30% in November to January, the lowest months. That is one of Mana Pools National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 290 mm in January. March has 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.
12th of 40
Of the 40 parks where we can rate African Jacana sightings, Mana Pools National Park ranks 12th at about 40%. 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 Mana Pools National Park (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are White-headed Lapwing (about 50%), Black-winged Stilt (about 50%) and Water Thick-knee (about 50%), 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 Mana Pools National Park (234 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 "—". How it works.
