NOTES

BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE AND INTERACTIONS WITH PEREGRINE AT SAN MIGUEL ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

BRENT S. STEWART, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute, 1700 South Shores Road, San Diego, California92109 ROBERT L. DELONG, NationalMarine Mammal Laboratory,NMFS, NWAFC, 7600 Sand Point Way, NSA Bldg. 32, Seattle, Washington98115

Althoughthe Black-shouldered(White-tailed) Kite (Elanuscaeruleus) has not been known to neston the CaliforniaChannel Islands, it waslocally abundant in mainland coastalareas of Californiain the 19th century(Waian and Stendall1970). The kite populationin the Santa Barbararegion has increasedsubstantially during the last30 years,after beingreduced to very smallnumbers by habitatdestruction, shooting and egg collectingin the early 1900s (Waian and Stendal11970, Garrettand Dunn 1981). The specieshas not been previouslyreported from San MiguelIsland, although there are four recent autumn sightingsfrom nearby Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands (Garrett and Dunn 1981). On 28 October 1982, Stewart observedan adult Black-shoulderedKite hunting nearNidever Canyon on San MiguelIsland. The kitewas seen again the nextmorning huntingin the same area. An adult Black-shoulderedKite was seen on 14 November 1982 huntingover the dry lake bed near the westend of the island.Stewart observed the for about 20 minutesbefore a PeregrineFalcon (Falcoperegrinus) flew over GreenMountain from the east.The falconharassed and chasedthe kite as they both ascendedand flew to the south.They disappearedfrom sightabout 15 minutesafter the encounterbegan. A third sightingof an adult Black-shoulderedKite was made near Nidever Canyon on 17 November 1982. The NorthernGoshawk (Accipiter gentills) has been observedoccasionally on the southernCalifornia mainland in Santa Barbara,Ventura and Los Angelescounties but it has never been reportedfrom any of the Channel Islands(Garrett and Dunn 1981). PeregrineFalcons nested, although apparentlyin small numbers,on San Miguel Islandin the early 1900s but the populationwas extinctby the 1940s (Kiff 1980). Peregrineshave been regularlysighted at San Miguel Islandin autumn and winter in recentyears (Jehl 1980, Stewartunpubl. data). Mostof thesesightings are thoughtto be of transientbirds although a few peregrinesmay have winteredon the island.On 12 November 1982, as we were observinga PeregrineFalcon huntingfrom a bluffat Harris Point, an adult Northern Goshawksuddenly appeared over the bluff. It flew directlyat and beganharassing the peregrine.The two birdsinteracted for about 15 minutesbefore the goshawkflew off towardsthe east. The apparent"aerial combat" consistedof the goshawkinitially stooping on the peregrine.The birdsfell togetherto withinabout 1 m of the ground, with the goshawkabove the , at whichtime the falconcountered by chasingthe goshawkvertically to about 100 m to 150 m altitude. The never made physicalcontact and the sequencewas repeatedeight times beforethe goshawkdeparted to the east.The peregrinethen resumedhunting at the same location. Later, on 14 November1982, Stewartobserved an adult goshawk(probably the samebird) at the southend of the dry lake bed near Green Mountainand watchedit for about 40 minutes before it flew off to the southwest. Theseobservations are ap.parently the firstrecords of the Black-shoulderedKite and the Northern Goshawk at San Miguel Island and the first record of the Northern Goshawk on the Southern California Channel Islands.

Western Birds 15:187-188, 1984 187 NOTES

We thank JosephR. Jehl, Jr., Ralph W. Schreiber,Guy McCaskie,H. Lee Jones, Dennis M. Power, KimballL. Garrett and William T. Everett for commentingon the manuscript.

LITERATURE CITED

Garrett,K. & J. Dunn. 1981. Birdsof southernCalifornia: status and distribution.Los •- AngelesAudubon Soc., Los Angeles. Jehl, J.R., Jr. 1980. Statusof PeregrineFalcon in the ChannelIslands, 1979-1980. In J.R. Jehl, Jr. & C.F. Cooper, eds. Potentialeffects of SpaceShuttle sonic boomson the biota and geologyof the CaliforniaChannel Islands: research reports.San DiegoState Univ. Centerfor MarineStudies Tech. Rep. 80-1. Kill, L.F. 1980. Historicalchanges in residentpopulations of Californiaisland raptors. Pp. 651-673 in D.M. Power, ed. The CaliforniaIslands; proceedings of a multidisciplinarysymposium. Santa Barbara Mus. Nat. Hist., SantaBarbara, CA. Waian, L.B. & R.C. Stendall. 1970. The White-tailedKite in Californiawith obser- vationsof the Santa Barbarapopulation. California Fish & 56:188-198.

Accepted5 June 1984

Northern Goshawkand PeregrineFalcon Sketch by Tim Manoli$

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