Video of White-tailed Kite flying at Coyote Hills by Lisa Williams.Great photo series showing the courtship ritual involving food exchange between mates, in Coyote Hills Regional Park, by Davor Desancic.White-tailed Kite life history from Cornell Lab of Ornithology.Save Our Creek, a neighborhood group, formed to oppose the project to protect the wildlife. Residence fought to save the area and cited the White-Tailed Kite population as a reason that the Summerhill Homes should not be built. The Summerhill Homes project would require 410 acres and caused much controversy. Near Mount Diablo, a portion of the Sycamore Valley Open Space Preserve in Danville was being considered for development. Numbers are strong in The Bay Area, and White-tailed Kites can often be found roosting in trees in populated neighborhoods, not just in protected areas. Due to urbanization, there has been a slight decline in numbers since the 1980’s but they are not considered at risk. More information and an extensive look at White-tailed Kite populations throughout history can be found here. Of the 73 cities used in 1997, no city recorded seeing zero White-tailed Kites compared to 40% of the cities in 1971 that recorded zero White-tailed Kites. In 1997, the White-tailed Kites were counted in 73 cities, and the average was found to be 20 birds per city. In 1971, the birds were counted in 45 cities in California, and the highest recorded number of White-tailed Kites occurred in Sacramento with 140 and Benicia with 106, but an average of 15 birds per city. In the late 1950s, the White-tailed Kite was fully protected and numbers began to rise due to an increase in agricultural development, meaning an increase in the food supply of rodents. It was recorded in 1929, that there were 40 White-tailed Kites in the Santa Clara Valley, but by 1931 there were only a few left in the area. The White-tailed Kite was headed towards extinction in the 1930s due to habitat destruction, shooting, and egg collection.
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