Hydrophasianus chirurgus
Silhouette: Burton Robert, USFWS · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) is a jacana in the monotypic genus Hydrophasianus. Like all other jacanas, they have elongated toes and nails that enable them to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, their preferred habitat. They may also swim or wade in water reaching their body while foraging mainly for invertebrate prey. They are found in tropical Asia from Yemen in the west to the Philippines in the east and move seasonally in parts of their range. They are the only jacanas that migrate long distances and have different non-breeding and breeding plumages. The pheasant-tailed jacana forages by swimming or by walking on aquatic vegetation. Females are larger than males and are polyandrous, laying several clutches that are raised by different males in their harem.
The pheasant-tailed jacana is conspicuous and unmistakable. It is the longest species in the jacana family when the tail streamers are included. The breeding plumage is marked by the elongated central tail feathers that given the bird its name. The body is chocolate brown, the face is white, and the back of the crown is black with white stripes running down the sides of the... Wikipedia →
Call0:05
China · 2026
© Bo Shunqi 薄顺奇 · XC1175052 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Song0:30
Sri Lanka · 2014
© Andrew Spencer · XC190863 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Recording1:00
Taiwan · 2013
© Hong · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 5 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 8 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Ponnani | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Durg | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Berhampore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Nagpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 10 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pheasant-tailed Jacana sighting in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 144th most-seen of the 166 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pheasant-tailed Jacana in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–September and November–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pheasant-tailed Jacana sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Pheasant-tailed Jacana sightings, Udawalawe National Park ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Keoladeo National Park (India, about 40%), Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%) and Kaziranga National Park (India, about 20%).
Same order: Charadriiformes
The closest relatives of the Pheasant-tailed Jacana that you can see in Udawalawe National Park (order Charadriiformes, Shorebirds and Allies) are Red-wattled Lapwing (about 70%), Yellow-wattled Lapwing (about 50%) and Black-winged Stilt (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pheasant-tailed Jacana is recorded against all the birds logged in Udawalawe National Park (11 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.
