OFTEN referred to as the lilytrotter or Jesus bird, the African jacana is seen daily on Toti’s rivers and estuaries.
About the size of a bantam, it has long legs and very long toes.
Its voice is a screech or grating kreep, kreep, kreep.
The African jacana loves water with fringe vegetation and lilies and usually moves about in small, loose groups, walking or running quickly over floating plants.
It is highly vocal, and flies low over water with irregular wingbeats, its long toes trailing.
This bird swims and dives well.
It feeds on insects, molluscs, crustaceans, seeds and waterlily bulbs. The African jacan is often polyandrous, having more than one mate at the same time.
It usually lays four eggs, with an incubation period of about 24 days.
Its Zulu name is iThandaluzibo.
