Medium. Very large feet with an extra long hind claw, red comb, spur at bend of wing. Sexes similar but female is larger.
Adults: Lores, eyering, cown, mantle, uppertail coverts, tail, flight feathers, lower breast, sides, underwing, black. Eye, light yellow. Back, rump, wing coverts, outer webs of secondaries, brown and darker on rump. Face, sides of neck, upper breast, golden yellow, forming a necklace on breast. Throat, belly, thighs, undertail coverts, white. Bill, reddish-pink, distal third black. Comb, reddish-pink. Legs, greyish-green. Male smaller than female.
Immatures: Similar to adult but cap chestnut and upperparts lighter brown. Underparts, all white except for variable amounts of black on breast forming an indistinct band.
Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra gallinacea) [XC436723]
by James Lambert from Sweetwater Lake, Lakefield NP, Queensland, Australia (call)
Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra gallinacea) [XC352602]
by Marc Anderson from Cattana Wetlands, Queensland, Australia (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
December - April in the north, September - January in the east.
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Nest
A low, flat structure, composed of sedge, grass and aquatic plants, built upon leaves or grass growing in water, near the edge of a swamp or stream.
Eggs (Guide)
3 or usually 4; glossy, bright tan, thickly covered with black sqiggles and fine wavy brown lines; pyriform; about 30 x 23 mm. Incubation: by both sexes.
Young
Precocial, nidifugous.
Subspecies
Validity of subspecies uncertain and frequently challenged. Birds from Kai Is (south-eastern Moluccas) may represent a racially mixed and possibly unstable population, although general characters perhaps closest to novaeguinae. Species may be more appropriately considered monospecific, but further study required.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
gallinacea (Temminck, 1828) - South-eastern Borneo, New Guinea, Sulawesi, Lesser Sundas and Philippines.
novaeguineae (Ramsey, 1878) - West Papuan Is (Misool), Kai Is, Aru Is, lowland New Guinea (except south), Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain) and D’Entrecasteaux Is (Fergusson I).
novaehollandiae (Salvadori, 1882) - Northern and eastern Australia.
Similar Species
Pheasant-tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)
Juvenile and non-breeding. Larger. Longer tail, with wings tips and tail being approximately equal. Mostly white wings, but with black tips, above and below. Hind neck of adult is yellow.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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