The Northern Jacana lives in wetlands from Mexico to Panama and on some Caribbean islands. Its long legs and toes help it walk over floating plants.
Adults have a dark head and breast, a reddish-brown back and a yellow forehead shield. The yellow bill has a white base.
By day it walks over water and floating vegetation, searching for aquatic insects, seeds, and other food.
The male builds a simple cup of plant material on marsh vegetation in shallow water. A clutch usually contains four eggs; he incubates and keeps adding nest material. In hot weather the male shades the eggs, and the female sometimes does so too.
Downy chicks leave the nest and feed themselves, while the male leads them to feeding sites and broods them in rain or cool weather. Females sometimes accompany or brood the chicks too.
Juveniles have white underparts, darker upperparts, a white eyebrow and white lores. Both adults and juveniles show yellow flight feathers when the wings are spread. Females are larger than males.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.