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A Rapid Avifaunal Survey of the Mahimborondro Protected Area, Northern Madagascar

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A Rapid Avifaunal Survey of the Mahimborondro Protected Area, Northern Madagascar A rapid avifaunal survey of the Mahimborondro Protected Area, northern Madagascar John C. Mittermeier1, Dale R. Wright2, Armand astur, and Red-tailed Newtonia Newtonia fanovanae. Benjara3, Robin Colyn2, Brett Gardner4, Merlijn Montane forest in Mahimborondro extends to over Jocque5, Luke Kemp6, Angelinah Rene de 2,000 m asl and at one of our survey sites we made Roland3, Dan Slootmaekers5 & Lily-Arison Rene detailed observations of the elevational occurrence de Roland3 of forest birds. Our results demonstrate differences 1 American Bird Conservancy, 4301 Connecticut Ave, in the avifauna of Mahimborondro compared to the N.W., Suite 451, Washington, D.C., USA nearby protected area of Bemanevika and highlight E-mail: [email protected] the importance of Mahimborondro as a refuge for 2 BirdLife South Africa, Centre for Biodiversity threatened forest birds. Conservation, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa Keywords: birds, biological surveys, endangered E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] species, rapid biological assessment, IUCN 3 The Peregrine Fund Madagascar, BP 4113, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Résumé détaillé [email protected] Mahimborondro (officiellement une Réserve de 4 Werribee Open Range Zoo, Zoos Victoria, K-Road, Ressources Naturelles de Mahimborondro) est une Werribee, 3030, Victoria, Australia réserve naturelle qui a été récemment créée dans le E-mail: [email protected] nord de Madagascar. Jusqu’à récemment, cette aire 5 Biodiversity Inventory for Conservation (BINCO) NPO, protégée n’avait été visitée que brièvement par des Walmersumstraat 44, 3380 Glabbeek, Belgium biologistes et la connaissance de la biodiversité de E-mail: [email protected], danslootmaekers@ gmail.com la réserve était limitée. Les résultats de la première 6 African Snakebite Institute, Pretoria, South Africa. étude ornithologique exhaustive de Mahimborondro E-mail: [email protected] sont rapportés dans cet article. Deux expéditions à Mahimborondro, en février 2019 et en novembre-décembre 2019 ont été Abstract réalisées. Les observations ornithologiques ont été effectuées dans les parties ouest, est, et sud de la Mahimborondro (officially Réserve de Ressources réserve pendant 26 jours. Les relevés ont couvert Naturelles de Mahimborondro) is a recently quatre types d’habitats distincts de l’aire protégée, designated protected area in northern Madagascar. notamment les lacs et les marais d’eau douce, les Until recently, the protected area had only been prairies, la forêt primaire de montagne et la forêt briefly visited by biologists and little was known de crêtes. Les détails sur chacune des localités about the biodiversity of the site. Here we report visitées au cours des inventaires sont consignés on the results of the first extended ornithological dans l’Annexe 1. La présence de 92 espèces surveys conducted in Mahimborondro. We visited d’oiseaux à Mahimborondro a été documentée, Mahimborondro over the course of two expeditions parmi lesquelles 14 espèces globalement menacées in February 2019 and November-December 2019 ou quasi menacées. Des commentaires sur nos and made ornithological observations at four observations des espèces suivantes sont fournis : locations in the western, eastern, and southern Canard de Meller Anas melleri (En Danger), Grèbe portions of the reserve over the course of 26 days. malgache Tachybaptus pelzelnii (En Danger), We documented 92 bird species in Mahimborondro, Bécassine malgache Gallinago macrodactyla including 14 species that are globally threatened or (Vulnérable), Firasabé de Madagascar Eutriorchis near threatened. Among these were multiple poorly astur (En Danger), Epervier de Madagascar known, endemic forest birds, such as Red Owl Tyto Accipiter madagascariensis (Quasi menacé), soumagnei, Madagascar Serpent-Eagle Eutriorchis Effraie de Soumagne Tyto soumagnei (Vulnérable), Mittermeier, J. C., Wright, D. R., Benjara A., Colyn, R., Gardner, B., Jocque, M., Kemp, L., Rene de Roland, A., Slootmaekers, D. & Rene de Roland, L.-A. A rapid avifaunal survey of the Mahimborondro Protected Area, northern Madagascar. Malagasy Nature, 14: 44-56. Mittermeier et al. : A rapid avifaunal survey of the Mahimborondro Protected Area 45 Brachyptérolle écaillé Brachypteracias squamiger breeding populations of 11 globally threatened (Vulnérable), Brachyptérolle de Crossley Atelornis species: Meller’s Duck Anas melleri (Endangered), crossleyi (Quasi menacé), Philépitte sp. Neodrepanis Madagascar Grebe Tachybaptus pelzelnii sp., Newtonie de Fanovana Newtonia fanovanae (Endangered), Slender-billed Flufftail Sarothrura (Vulnérable), Vanga de Pollen Xenopirostris polleni watersi (Endangered), Madagascar Rail Rallus (Quasi menacé), Jery à queue étagée Hartertula madagascariensis (Vulnerable), Madagascar Pond flavoviridis (Quasi menacé) et Fouditany à sourcils Heron Ardeola idae (Endangered), Madagascar jaunes Crossleyia xanthophrys (Quasi menacé). Snipe Gallinago macrodactyla (Vulnerable), Red Owl La forêt montagnarde de Mahimborondro s’élève Tyto soumagnei (Vulnerable), Madagascar Serpent- au-dessus de 2000 m d’altitude. Dans l’un des Eagle Eutriorchis astur (Endangered), Madagascar sites d’étude, les lignes de transect ont suivi un Harrier Circus macrosceles (Endangered), gradient altitudinal clair, ce qui a permis de collecter Scaly Ground-Roller Brachypteracias squamiger des informations détaillées sur la distribution (Vulnerable), and most notably, the world’s only wild altitudinale. Pour plusieurs d’espèces, les altitudes population of Madagascar Pochard Aythya innotata significativement plus élevées (> 300 m) que les (Critically Endangered) (Goodman et al., 2018). altitudes maximales publiées pour ces espèces sont Due to this geographic location and the fact enregistrées. Un grand nombre de ces observations that Mahimborondro includes substantial areas of concordent avec les distributions altitudinales intact forest (roughly 50% of Mahimborondro’s 751 théoriques de modèles de distribution des espèces. km² is forested (Goodman et al., 2018), this new L’inventaire rapide a fourni une compréhension protected area has the potential to be important for de base de la diversité des oiseaux présents à several globally threatened bird species. Additionally, Mahimborondro. Il a été constaté qu’il existe une Mahimborondro may support populations of différence entre l’avifaune de Mahimborondro et threatened species that occur in Bemanevika and celle de la zone protégée voisine de Bemanevika, connect these populations to more extensive areas ce qui souligne l’importance de l’aire protégée de of forest to the east and south. The birds and other Mahimborondro, en particulier pour les oiseaux biodiversity of Madagascar face significant threats, forestiers. including clearing of land and forests for agriculture, overhunting, poaching for the pet trade, timber Mots clés : oiseaux, inventaire biologique, espèces harvesting, and mineral resource exploitation (Jones menacées, évaluation biologique rapide, UICN et al., 2019). Protected areas of Madagascar, such as Mahimborondro and Bemanevika, are a crucial Introduction safe-guard against these threats. Mahimborondro (officially Réserve de Ressources Ornithological fieldwork, and biodiversity fieldwork Naturelles de Mahimborondro) is a recently in general, in Mahimborondro has thus far been designated protected area located in Madagascar’s extremely limited. Previous biodiversity surveys northern highlands (Goodman et al., 2018). Granted have been almost entirely restricted to the flora of protected area status (IUCN Category VI) in April the site, including collecting expeditions undertaken 2015, Mahimborondro forms a corridor that links the in 1908, 1923, and between 1932 and 1951 protected area of Bemanevika (officially Paysage (Goodman et al., 2018). In more recent times, the Harmonieux Protégé de Bemanevika) to the Missouri Botanical Garden conducted collections at Tsaratanàna Massif (Réserve Naturelle Intégrale Mahimborondro between 2001 and 2003. Much of de Tsaratanàna) and together with these forms the landscape is difficult to access, and knowledge of part of northern Madagascar’s largest protected Mahimborondro’s ornithological diversity comes from landscape (Complexe des Aires Protégées a few preliminary surveys of the site made during brief d’Ambohimirahavavy-Marivorahona or CAPAM). visits to the reserve by The Peregrine Fund research Mahimborondro is managed by The Peregrine Fund team in Bemanevika. These previous surveys were Madagascar, which has had an active presence at primarily focused on monitoring threatened species of Bemanevika since the early 2000s. The reserves waterfowl in the wetlands on the edge of the reserve, adjacent to Mahimborondro are globally significant rather than studying the avifauna as a whole. for bird conservation. Tsaratanàna is recognized as As a result of this limited survey effort, the an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (BirdLife presence of a number of threatened bird species International, 2020a), and Bemanevika has that could potentially occur in Mahimborondro 46 Mittermeier et al. : A rapid avifaunal survey of the Mahimborondro Protected Area remained unconfirmed. This was particularly true of a Garmin 60CSX handheld GPS in February and a several forest species that occur in the neighboring Garmin eTrex 20 in November-December to record Bemanevika protected area, such as Eutriorchis elevation and location data. astur and Tyto soumagnei.
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