About our Logo: Pheasant-tailed Jacana

The Pakistan Wetlands Programme logo features the Pheasant-tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus), a characteristic inhabitant of low-lying wetlands of Pakistan.  Its other common name is the Chinese Water Pheasant and the vernacular name used in most parts of the subcontinent is Piho.  The bird is blessed with a very sweet voice that contributes to the symphony of bird calls at dawn.  Its alarm call is a distinctive”queerer” sound.

The Pheasant-tailed Jacana is well adapted to wetland habitat.  It has long toes and toenails that enable it to walk delicately on floating vegetation as it searches for mollusks, insects and other invertebrates.  These birds are also excellent swimmers and can even dive, if necessary.   In breeding plumage, the bird can be identified by its white head, face, throat and fore-neck while the breast and belly are chocolate brown.  It has a graceful, long, sickle-shaped tail.  The sexes look alike but the female is slightly larger than the male.  The Pheasant-tailed Jacana usually lays four black-marked brown eggs in a floating nest.  The breeding period extends from May to September in Pakistan, varying locally.  An interesting feature of this jacana’s breeding biology is that the male takes the responsibility for incubation.

The Pheasant-tailed Jacana is found worldwide within the earth’s tropical zone but their main distribution is in Asia.  In Pakistan, it is wide spread and common in the major rice-growing areas of Sindh, including Hyderabad, Larkana and Thatta Districts.  It is a summer visitor to Punjab Province, mainly in the areas of Shekhupura, Gujranawala and Sialkot.  Occasionally it turns up at higher elevations in the North West Frontier Province, the Federally Administered Northern Areas Territory and in Baluchistan. Their habitat includes lakes, jheels, pools and man-made water bodies that are well vegetated with floating aquatic plants.  

This bird is usually not shy of human beings and often forages actively throughout in their presence.  It is intriguing to watch Pheasant-tailed Jacana as they apparently defy physics by walking across a quiet pond or lake.

Due to pollution and encroachment of natural wetlands, the Pheasant-tailed Jacana’s habitat is gradually degrading.  Read more about this attractive bird in “The Birds of Pakistan”, a comprehensive two-volume bird book written by the renowned naturalist, Dr. Tom Roberts.