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The 'hotspot approach' considers that endemism and threatened species are key factors in protected area designation.

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Abstract•

We conducted a 16-month country-wide survey to determine the status of the threatened Madagascar (Marsh) Harrier Circus macrosceles from 2005 to 2006. We searched for harriers in varying habitat types, focusing on marshes, grasslands and savannas, secondary forests and the edge of primary forests. We surveyed 68% of the districts of Madagascar which contain 71% of the potential harrier habitat throughout the country. We recorded 80 individuals of this sexually dimorphic raptor; 48 males and 32 females of which 71 were observed during the breeding season (June to December) and nine outside the breeding season (January to May). The Madagascar Harrier has a broad distribution of about 1,000 km north to south (Madagascar is about 1,500 km in length) and east to west, but at extremely low density. Fifty-three (69%) harriers were observed in high elevation marshes and grasslands above 1,100 m in the provinces of Mahajanga and Antananarivo during the breeding season. Three major threats to harriers, all human caused, were identified: the transformation of marshes to rice fields (all nests in lower elevation natural marshes), uncontrolled fires destroying nests (n 5 7 nests lost in 2005 to fires), and human persecution by taking young from nests for a food source and killing adults due to their predatory nature. From our surveys in Madagascar and information from Comoro Islands, we estimate the global population to be 250-500 individuals suggesting the current Madagascar Harrier population is heading towards endangerment. The survival of the Madagascar Harrier in Madagascar is critically dependent on protecting the remaining natural marshes, which are an extremely limited and critically endangered habitat in Madagascar, with bordering grasslands.