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Australian Wildlife

  Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra gallinacea)





Comb-crested Jacana | Irediparra gallinacea photo
Jacana at Fogg Dam

Image by Stephen Barnett - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Comb-crested Jacana | Irediparra gallinacea photo
Jacana at Fogg Dam

Image by Stephen Barnett - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







COMB-CRESTED JACANA FACTS

Description
The Comb-crested Jacana or Lotusbird is a waterbird with long legs and extremely long toes that enable it to walk on the leaves of floating plants. It is brown above with white face and front of neck. The back of the neck is black extending into a black band round the belly. The rest of the underside is white. It has red bill with black tip and pink comb on forehead.

Other Names
Lotusbird

Size
23cm

Habitat
floating vegetation on lagoons, swamps, dams

Food
aquatic invertebrates, plants

Breeding
nest is a low mound of floating vegetation. Lays 4 yellow-brown or red-brown eggs covered with fine black lines.

Range
coastal northern and eastern Australia from the Kimberleys in Western Australia to near Sydney, New South Wales

distribution map showing range of Irediparra gallinacea in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Family:Jacanidae
Genus:Irediparra
Species:gallinacea
Common Name:Comb-crested Jacana