jacana
1
9.9
- noun
- With their long toes, jacanas easily navigate the delicate surfaces of aquatic vegetation.
- wattled jacana
Examples
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Other shorebirds, notably ruffs, jacanas, avocets, and thick-knees, display mostly on the ground and without acrobatic maneuvers.
Academic text (2006) -
This is a waddled jacana and the jacanas.
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Bronze-winged jacana: the females of these tropical shorebirds maintain harems of males, laying many clutches of eggs for the males to tend.
Blog text (11) -
Long-legged water birds: jacanas, swamp hens, coots, and little and purple herons foraged among the plants.
Academic text (2006) -
The jacana walked gracefully across the floating plants in the wetland.
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In the wetlands, jacanas can be seen foraging among the water lilies.
Surface Forms
Etymology
Jacana comes from a Brazilian indigenous (Tupi) name often written as yaçana, and was taken into Portuguese and Spanish. A helpful way to remember jacana is to picture the tropical wading bird with very long toes that let it 'walk on floating plants', which is exactly what a jacana does.