National Wildlife Health Center Bald Eagle Data 1963-2014

Abstract

This data constitutes records in their raw form that describe necropsies on bald eagles gathered into the Wildlife Health Information Sharing Partnership on-line database (http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/whispers/) by veterinary professionals and pathologists at the National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC). NWHC data comes from a combination of what our partners provide as field history, in-house ancillary testing and findings, and external contract and research labs (when necessary) to determine cause of death. The data is collected all over the country and then deposited into the database, so there is assumed variability in terminology and interpretation, depending on the pathologist that conducted the necropsy and had ancillary testing done. All the data in this dataset was opportunistic. Age is generally determined based on plumage, gonad development, thymus, and bursa of Fabricius. Differentiation between 2nd year and older are all classified as AHY. Eagles are tested for Pb at the discretion of the pathologist during gross exam and case history, and not all eagles are tested due to staff and funding resource limitations. The NWHC did not accept eagles that had been in rehab for more than 72 hours, as they may have received treatments, such as chelation, etc. The data was shared with the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab at Cornell University for the purpose of the regional “lead in bald eagle” project. Professionals at the source facility have given written permission for this data to be posted to this persistent eCommons repository alongside the other project data.