The Story
The shot
I photographed these two Wattled Jacanas (Jacana jacana) at Reserva Natural Hato Berlín in Trinidad, Casanare, Colombia. Their very long toes and claws let them walk across floating vegetation. The species lives in wetlands across much of South America east of the Andes, as well as western Panama and Trinidad. It feeds on insects and other invertebrates, small fish, roots and seeds taken from floating plants or the water’s surface. Hato Berlín is a civil-society nature reserve on the Casanare savanna, about 10 km from Trinidad, where capybaras, caimans, turtles, monkeys and savanna and marsh birds can be seen. IUCN lists the Wattled Jacana as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100. In 2020 Hato Berlín opened an eco-lodge as part of the Safari Llanero, a project led by the Casanare Chamber of Commerce with Swiss cooperation to strengthen wildlife-watching tourism.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana) belongs to the family Jacanidae (Jacanas) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List
