On a birding trip to Panama:

The wattled jacana looks pretty strange but that’s only the beginning.

Though related to shorebirds Jacana jacana has a wattle on his face like a chicken, and very long toes that are longer than his ‘nose’ (beak).

His toes are long because he spends his life walking on floating vegetation, a habit that’s given him the nickname “lily-trotter.”   When his footing is submerged he looks like he’s walking on water.

The jacana’s social life is even stranger.  Like a phalarope, a female jacana mates with multiple males and never takes care of her young.  She lays four eggs in a floating nest but it’s up to one of her mates to incubate the eggs and protect the young after they hatch.

Weirdest of all, the father bird doesn’t incubate by placing his belly against the eggs.  Instead he puts two eggs under each wing and keeps them warm against his body.

Later, when the newly hatched chicks are too small to walk alone, he tucks the chicks under his wings and walks away with them.  Their little legs dangle beneath his wings. Click here and look closely at the photo to see what I mean.

Female wattled jacanas are larger than males but the birds otherwise look alike.  How do you identify a male wattled jacana? Because he’s babysitting.

Here’s a father with a chick in the background.  If you can’t see the chick, click on the photo to see the original that has a box around the chick.

Native to Panama and South America, the wattled jacana is strange in many ways.

(photo at top from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original.  Wattled jacana with chick by Gregory ‘Slobirdr’ Smith via Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Day 5:  Cerro Azul, waterfront at Panama Viejo