The New Neotropical Companion

much of Amazonia. Nearly the size of a turkey (which

it vaguely resembles), it is a shiny black bird with thick

legs, large unwebbed feet, and a smallish chicken-

like head. The Horned Screamer is named for the

long feather quill that tops off its head. The Southern

Screamer (Chauna torquata; plate 12- 60) has a gray

head with a small, dapper crest and has a somewhat

more confined range than the Horned Screamer. The

Northern Screamer (C. chavaria) has the most limited

range, confined to northernmost South America.

The Long- toed Jacanas

Eight species of jacanas (family Jacanidae, order

Charadriiformes) use their elongate, unwebbed

toes to delicately walk atop lily pads while searching

for arthropod food throughout the world’s tropical

marshlands and riversides. Two species, the Northern

Jacana (Jacana spinosa) and the Wattled Jacana (J.

jacana; plate 12- 61), are Neotropical. Both are chicken-

size, blackish birds with dark rufous wings that reveal

bright yellow patches when the birds fly. The Northern

Jacana is one of the few birds of which only males

incubate the eggs and any female will mate with several

males. The role reversal is complete in that females

establish territories and court males.

Plate 12- 60. A Southern Screamer perched, as screamers often

are, atop a tree along a river. Photo by John Kricher.

Plate 12- 59. A pair of Horned Screamers. The one on the right

shows its “horn” well. Photo by Sean Williams.

Plate 12- 61. Note the long toes on the lifted right foot of this Wattled Jacana. Photo by John Kricher.

chapter 12 cruising the rivers to the sea 227