American Bald Eagle vs Brittle Bladderfern

Haliaeetus leucocephalus compared with Cystopteris tenuis

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	American Bald Eagle	Brittle Bladderfern
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Tracheophyta
Class	Aves (Birds)	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)
Order	Accipitriformes (Hawks & Eagles)	Polypodiales (Polypodiales)
Family	Accipitridae (Hawks & Eagles)	Cystopteridaceae
Genus	Haliaeetus (Sea Eagles)	Cystopteris
Species	Haliaeetus leucocephalus	Cystopteris tenuis

Conservation Status

American Bald Eagle

NE — Not Evaluated

Population: ~316.7K

Trend: Increasing ↑

Brittle Bladderfern

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	American Bald Eagle	Brittle Bladderfern
Diet	Carnivore	—
Average Lifespan	28 years	—
Average Length	90 cm	—
Average Weight	5.0 kg	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

American Bald Eagle

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 10 distinct biome types spanning the Neotropic and Palearctic realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (8 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Ecuador).

Brittle Bladderfern

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Distributed across Canada and United States.

American Bald Eagle

The national bird of the United States and a symbol of American conservation success, bald eagles have a wingspan of up to 2.4 meters and inhabit forests and wetlands near open water across North America. Powerful aerial predators and scavengers, they specialize in fish but also take waterfowl and carrion. Nearly extinct by the 1960s due to DDT poisoning and hunting, the bald eagle recovered dramatically following pesticide bans and the Endangered Species Act.

Brittle Bladderfern

The Brittle Bladderfern (Cystopteris tenuis) is a species in the genus Cystopteris. Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.