A Capture to Remember: Monitoring the Health of Avian Scavengers on the Pacific Coast

Because of concern over risks to the health of avian communities on the Washington and Oregon coasts, the nonprofit Coastal Raptors and other partners initiated a study where, to date, Coastal Raptors has live-captured and sampled 27 bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), 27 turkey vultures (Cathartes aura), and 6 common ravens (Corvus corax) for contaminants and disease study. In this article, the author highlights the events of one of the nearly 100 days on which trapping has occurred. An adult bald eagle was captured north of Ocean Shores, WA, USA, and the trapping team was visited by Quinault Indian Nation members.