American Bald Eagle vs Cinnabar Powdercap

Haliaeetus leucocephalus compared with Cystodermella cinnabarina

Key Differences

American Bald Eagle is Not Evaluated while Cinnabar Powdercap is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	American Bald Eagle	Cinnabar Powdercap
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Fungi (Fungi)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Basidiomycota (Club Fungi)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Agaricomycetes (Mushrooms)
Order	Accipitriformes (Hawks & Eagles)	Agaricales (Gilled Mushrooms)
Family	Accipitridae (Hawks & Eagles)	Agaricaceae (Agarics)
Genus	Haliaeetus (Sea Eagles)	Cystodermella
Species	Haliaeetus leucocephalus	Cystodermella cinnabarina

Conservation Status

American Bald Eagle

NE — Not Evaluated

Population: ~316.7K

Trend: Increasing ↑

Cinnabar Powdercap

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	American Bald Eagle	Cinnabar Powdercap
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).

Cinnabar Powdercap

Habitat

Typically found in forest floors, decomposing wood, and soil ecosystems.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and United States. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

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.

Cinnabar Powdercap

Cinnabar powdercap (Cystodermella cinnabarina) is a small agaric fungus in the family Agaricaceae, distributed across the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. It grows in woodland and forest floor habitats, particularly in needle or mixed leaf litter under conifers and mixed deciduous trees. The fruiting bodies are small to medium mushrooms with a granular, powdery cap surface in shades of orange-red to cinnabar or brick red, which gives the species its name. The gills are white and the stipe has a granular surface below the annulus (ring), typical of the genus. Cystodermella cinnabarina is classified as Vulnerable, reflecting declines linked to eutrophication, changes in forest floor conditions, and the loss of traditional forest management practices that maintained suitable microhabitats. The species is associated with relatively undisturbed, low-nutrient woodland soil conditions and is sensitive to nitrogen enrichment, which promotes competitive vegetation that degrades its habitat. Molecular phylogenetics has clarified its placement within Agaricaceae, separating it from the related genus Cystoderma. The cinnabar powdercap is an indicator of woodland fungi diversity and habitat quality. Conservation of low-intensity managed forest with diverse floor conditions benefits this and related saprotrophic macrofungi.