Pheasant-tailed jacana
Hydrophasianus chirurgus (Scopoli, 1786)
The pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) is a species in the family Jacanidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 126 g to 231 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the pheasant-tailed jacana
- Weight
- 126 g – 231 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 26 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2.5src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the pheasant-tailed jacana
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the pheasant-tailed jacana live?
Not recorded
What is the pheasant-tailed jacana?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Pheasant-tailed jacana” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pheasant-tailed_jacana&oldid=1314598896), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the pheasant-tailed jacana endangered?
The pheasant-tailed jacana is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the pheasant-tailed jacana classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyJacanidae
- genusHydrophasianus
- SpeciesHydrophasianus chirurgus (Scopoli, 1786)
Synonyms Hydrophasianus sinensis, Parra luzonia, Parra luzoniensis, Parra phaenicura, Parra phoenicura, Parra sinensis, Tringa chirurgus
Other names and names in other languages (63)
- عيوقArabic
- يقنة تدرجية الذيلArabic
- দলমৰাAssamese
- Фазаноопашата яканаBulgarian
- Jakana lost-fazanBreton
- jacana cua de faisàCatalan
- Jacana de Coa de FaisàCatalan
- ostnák bažantíCzech
- jasana cynffonhirWelsh
- FasanbladhøneDanish
- FasanblatthühnchenGerman
- FasanenblatthühnchenGerman
- WasserfasanGerman
- longvosta jakanoEsperanto
- Longvosta jakanaoEsperanto
- Jacana colilargaSpanish
- pahlsaba-lootoselindEstonian
- ژاسنای دمقرقاولیPersian
- جاکانای دم قرقاولیPersian
- pitkäpyrstöjassanaFinnish
- Jacana à longue queueFrench
- Seacána ÁiseachIrish
- יקנה אסייתיתHebrew
- ז'קנה זנבתניתHebrew
- तीतर जैसी पूंछ वाला जल-कपोतHindi
- dugorepa jakanaCroatian
- fácánfarkú levéljáróHungarian
- Burung-sepatu terataiIndonesian
- Fagiano d'acquaItalian
- Jacana codalungaItalian
- レンカクJapanese
- ಬಾಲದ ದೇವನಕ್ಕಿKannada
- 물꿩Korean
- fazaninė žakanaLithuanian
- Fazanauodegė žakanaLithuanian
- ūdensfazāniņšLatvian
- Garastes jakānsLatvian
- വാലൻ താമരക്കോഴിMalayalam
- कमळपक्षीMarathi
- लांब शेपटीचा कमळपक्षीMarathi
- ဘီကျားငှက်Burmese
- Kénézí bitseeʼ nineezígííNavajo
- जलअप्सराNepali
- WaterfazantDutch
- କୁକୁଭOdia
- długoszpon chińskiPolish
- فیزنٹ دی پچھ آلا جکاناWestern Panjabi
- jaçanã-rabo-de-faisãoPortuguese
- jaçanã-cauda-de-faisãoPortuguese
- Водяной фазанчикRussian
- Фазанохвостая яканаRussian
- jakana bažantiaSlovak
- Fazanorepa jakanaSerbian
- fasanjaçanaSwedish
- fasanjassanaSwedish
- நீளவால் தாழைக்கோழிTamil
- นกอีแจวThai
- Sülün Kuyruklu JakanaTurkish
- якана довгохвостаUkrainian
- Gà lôi nướcVietnamese
- 水雉Chinese
- 雉尾水雉Chinese
- 鳳尾水雉Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the pheasant-tailed jacana
Other species in the same family Jacanidae.
African jacana
Actophilornis africanus
Bronze-winged jacana
Metopidius indicus
Wattled jacana
Jacana jacana
Comb-crested jacana
Irediparra gallinacea
Northern jacana
Jacana spinosa
Lesser jacana
Microparra capensis
ComparePheasant-tailed jacana vs African jacanaPheasant-tailed jacana vs Bronze-winged jacanaPheasant-tailed jacana vs Wattled jacanaPheasant-tailed jacana vs Comb-crested jacana
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the pheasant-tailed jacana?
An adult pheasant-tailed jacana weighs 126 g – 231 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the pheasant-tailed jacana endangered?
The pheasant-tailed jacana is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the pheasant-tailed jacana?
The pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) belongs to the family Jacanidae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/pheasant-tailed-jacana
“Pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/pheasant-tailed-jacana.
@misc{pheasant_tailed_jacana_2026,
title = {Pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/pheasant-tailed-jacana},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}