Activity Pattern and Feeding Behaviour of African Jacana (Actophilornis Africanus) in Lake Hawassa
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Date
2018-06-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The present study documents activities and diet of African jacana (Actophilornis africanus) in
Lake Hawassa. Data were collected during the wet (July- August) and dry (January- February)
seasons in 2017 using scan and focal sampling methods. Repeated observations were administered
to collect data on activity pattern and foraging behaviour of African jacanas. Activity patterns
including feeding, scanning, flying, preening, resting and others were observed. African jacana
feed primarily on insects (63.7%). They also feed on worms (16.2), larvae (5.4), snails (5%), seed
(3.7%) and other (6%) during the wet season and during the dry season insects (55.6%), worms
(12.2 %), larvae (8.2%), snails (7.1%) seed (6.5%) and other (10.3%) There was significance
difference in the type of food consumed by African jacana during the wet season (F1 39 = 7.86, P<
0.05) and during the dry season (F1 39 = 3.11, P< 0.05). There was no significance difference in the
type of food consumed between seasons (F1 39 =1.48, P> 0.05). Major activities of the species were
mainly feeding 95.8 ± 5.6 and 149.3 ± 8.9 during the wet and dry seasons respectively. Feeding
activity was intensive and reached its peak in the morning (6:00 - 9:00) and late afternoon hours
(4:00 – 6:00). Resting was more during the mid-day (12:00 – 1:00). During the dry season, there
was significant difference in the rates of feeding (F0.05, 118 = 15.24, P < 0.05) in the three time
periods. The mean feeding rates were significantly higher in the morning than late afternoon (Post
hoc Tukey HSD, p < 0.05). There were significant differences in the mean rates for scanning (F0.05,
118= 6.9, p < 0.05), flying (F0.05, 118= 5.03, p< 0.05), resting (F0.05, 118=4.33, p < 0.05) during the
different periods. Further ecological studies on African jacana should be conducted to get more
information about the bird and facilitate conservation measures in the study area.
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Keywords
Activity Patterns, Feeding Ecology, African Jacana, Lake Hawassa