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USGS National Wildlife Health Center necropsy and contaminant results for bald and golden eagles collected in 8 States from January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2017 to determine cause of illness/death and lead, mercury, and anticoagulant rodenticide exposure

Metadata Updated: January 21, 2026

The U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) measured environmental contaminants in bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) to evaluate dietary exposure to lead, mercury, and anticoagulant rodenticides (AR), which was identified by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as a priority issue of concern for the Mountain Prairie Region 6. Carcasses of bald eagles (n = 172) and golden eagles (n = 142) collected from North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas between 2014-2017 were assessed for cause of death and liver lead, mercury, and AR levels. Trauma, electrocution, and lead poisoning were the 3 leading causes of death, affecting 51%, 21%, and 20% of eagles, respectively. Trauma was the leading cause of death for both species, while lead poisoning was the second leading cause of death for bald eagles (31%) and was only diagnosed as the cause of death in 7% of golden eagles. Elevated lead levels within the range of subclinical or clinical poisoning (>2 mg/kg wet weight) were present in 25% of eagles tested, including 36% of bald eagles and 11% of golden eagles. No association was detected between lead exposure and trauma, electrocution, or infectious disease. Mercury levels were considered high (>80 mg per kilogram dry weight) for only 2% of bald eagles and no golden eagles. Brodifacoum was the most common AR detected, present in 56% of eagles, including 70% of bald eagles and 39% of golden eagles. However, death was not directly attributed to AR toxicosis in any case.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_6351b899d34e47431c15dc9d
Data Last Modified 2023-04-20T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260121062710
Harvest Object Id f52d8c5b-a4cc-42fe-a3c6-3a2a77b1752c
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
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Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 943b463f2096dc6270dc4f78f1aebd8ed39d48a2d93446f8c9c644f00dd2bc19
Source Schema Version 1.1
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