Causes of eagle deaths

The U.S. Department of the Interior has investigated the deaths of more than 4,300 bald and golden eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus and Aquila chrysaetos) since the early 1960's as part of an ongoing effort to monitor causes of wildlife mortality. The availability of dead eagles for study depends on finding carcasses in fair to good condition and transporting them to the laboratory. Such opportunistic collection and the fact that recent technological advances have enhanced our diagnostic capabilities, particularly for certain toxins, mean that results reported here do not necessarily reflect actual proportional causes of death for all eagles in the United States throughout the 30-year period. This type of sampling does, however, identify major or frequent causes of death.