Common Eastern Fleabane vs Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Erigeron strigosus compared with Amazilia tzacatl

Key Differences

Common Eastern Fleabane is Not Evaluated while Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Eastern Fleabane	Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Trochilidae
Genus	Erigeron	Amazilia
Species	Erigeron strigosus	Amazilia tzacatl

Conservation Status

Common Eastern Fleabane

NE — Not Evaluated

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Eastern Fleabane	Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common Eastern Fleabane

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (North Korea), Europe (7 countries), and North America (United States).

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Common Eastern Fleabane

<em>Erigeron strigosus</em>, the common eastern fleabane, is a native North American wildflower in the family Asteraceae, currently not evaluated by the IUCN Red List. The species is distributed across Asia, Europe, and North America, where it typically colonizes diverse terrestrial tropical to temperate habitats, including disturbed roadsides, old fields, forest edges, meadows, and grasslands. As an annual or biennial herb, <em>Erigeron strigosus</em> typically produces numerous small, daisy-like flower heads with white to pale lavender ray florets surrounding a yellow central disc. The species blooms from late spring through summer and is well adapted to open, disturbed environments, making it a common colonizer of agricultural margins, vacant lots, and second-growth vegetation. Its achene fruits, each tipped with a pappus of bristles, are wind-dispersed, facilitating rapid colonization of suitable habitats. Common eastern fleabane provides nectar and pollen resources for a variety of generalist pollinators, including small bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies. In traditional folk medicine, various parts of fleabane species have been used by Indigenous peoples for diverse purposes. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

One of the most common hummingbirds in Central America and northwestern South America, rufous-tailed hummingbirds are medium-sized with green upper parts and a diagnostic bright rufous-orange tail. Found from Mexico to Ecuador and Trinidad in a wide range of habitats including forest edges, gardens, plantations, and secondary growth from sea level to 2,100 meters. Aggressive territory defenders at feeders and flowering plants, they are frequently seen in gardens across their range. Listed as Least Concern.