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i close cyclical correlation from year to year (Pruett-Jones, Pruett-Jones and Knight, 1980). THREATS AND MANAGEMENT CONCERNS The principle threat to the black-shouldered kite is the loss of riparian nesting areas. Riparian habitat is disappearing at a high rate due to agriculture, urban development and recreation. The black-shouldered kite population in the Central Valley of California has expanded due to the increase in the number of irrigated agricultural fields. These fields provide suitable habitat for the California vole which is the preferred prey species of kites. Black-shouldered kites have undergone tremendous historical population fluctuations. Before the turn of the century,kites were reported to be common in California. Between 1900 and 1940, shooting and the expansion of unirrigated agriculture reduced populations almost to extinction. Due to modern farming practices and prohibition of shooting since the late 1940's, black-shouldered kites have made a noteworthy comeback(Beedy and Granholm, 1985). SELECTED REFERENCES Beedy, Edward C. and Stephen L. Granholm. 1985. Discovering Sierra Birds. Yosemite Natural History Association and Sequoia Natural History Association. 229 pp. Bent, Arthur C. 1938. Life histories of North American birds of prey (part 1). U.S.Nat. Mus. Bull. 170: viii +409 pp. California Department of Fish and Game. 1987. Special animals. Natural Diversity Data Base. 18 pp. Ehrlich, Paul R., David S. Dobkin and Darryl Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook. Simon and Schuster,Inc.,New York. 798 pp. Evans, David L. 1982. Status reports on twelve raptors. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Special Scientific Report- Wildlife No. 238, Washington. 68 pp. Longwood, Marc D. 1980. White-tailed kite. In : Terrestrial habitat evaluation criteria handbook. Ecoregion 2610, The Central Valley of California, pages 7.1-7.17. National Geographic Society. 1987. Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Second Edition. National Geographic Society, Washington. 464 pp. Newton,Ian. 1979. Population ecology of raptors. Buteo Books,Vermillion. 399 PP. Pruett-Jones,Stephen G., Melinda A. Pruett-Jones and Richard L. Knight. 1980. The white-tailed kite in North and Middle America: current and recent population changes. American Birds 34(4):682-688.