Officials Shocked as More Bald Eagles Turn Up Dead in the Northeast

A month after the mysterious mass death of 13 Bald Eagles in Maryland, another five bodies have been found just 30 miles away in eastern Delaware, and three birds have been sent to a local rehab facility. Officials have not yet determined if this incident is linked to previous events, but none of the deaths appear to be the result of natural causes.

The terrible discovery was made last weekend when a resident driving near Dagsboro noticed a group of Bald Eagles acting disoriented—with some struggling to fly and others lying in a field.

When officials arrived at the scene, they found one dead bird. Shortly after, they noticed eight more that seemed to be in distress. John McDerby, an officer with the Fish and Wildlife Natural Resources Police, said that five of the birds were caught and transported to the Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research center, where three died upon arrival. The next day, two more eagles were found: One was already dead and the other was safely transferred to the rescue facility.

Officials are hustling to uncover the cause of the carnage. But some theories have already emerged. “There really can be only two scenarios for these eagles' deaths,” says Bill Stewart, president of the local Delmarva Ornithological Society: “Either accidental, or with malicious intent.”

Stewart says that the odds of having five eagles die naturally within such a short time frame and small area is very low. He thinks there must be an unnatural force at play, such as accidental poisoning, which is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of birds each year. It’s possible that the birds had feasted on a toxic carcass together. (Eagles will sometimes eat carrion as a group.) “If that carcass contained a toxin fatal to Bald Eagles, there is a strong possibility the group of eagles would perish in a similar time frame,” says Stewart.

Lead poisoning among eagles—through ingestion of bullet fragments and fishing hooks—is quite common. Of the 50 or so Bald Eagles brought to the Tri-State rescue facility every year, lead poisoning is a leading cause of injury, says Lisa Smith, executive director of the center. But generally, the birds arrive one by one. “It’s unusual for us to receive multiple Bald Eagles at once,” she says.

Another class of poisons that could be at fault in this incident is rodenticides. Notorious for destroying raptor populations, these chemicals are used by many farmers to keep their lands vermin-free, and can kill non-target wildlife, such as Bald Eagles. 

From a legal standpoint, these motives are all just speculation. Blood samples from the eagles have been sent to labs for testing, but the results may not be available anytime soon. For now, Delaware Department of Natural Resources officials are keeping this investigation separate from the one in Maryland, McDerby says.

One thing that’s certain—and perhaps the only bit of good news in all this—is that the three eagles brought to the rescue center are now stable and improving. The sick birds were being fed fluids through an IV, and have now been upgraded to a feeding tube.