Valvular endocarditis and bacteremia in a bald eagle.

A thickened left atrioventricular valve and a discolored, mottled liver were the only lesions noted in an adult male bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) found dead below its nest on Hirz Creek near Lake Shasta, California. Microscopic examination revealed bacterial vegetative valvular endocarditis and disseminated bacterial thromboembolic lesions.