When will Hummingbirds arrive?

Since the winter weather (this was winter?) was so unusual this year, many are asking if the arrival time for hummingbirds will be earlier. Things that influence migration: food availability and instinct. In the fall, as flowers die back and the availability of nectar decreases, hummingbirds head south. Leaving a feeder up into the fall does not encourage hummingbirds to remain in our area. What you may see is a migrant from up north stopping by to replenish its energy at the feeder, but most of the birds that were in our backyard during the summer had probably already left.

Most of us anticipate the arrival of hummingbirds to mid-April. Tax time is an easy way to remember it. The male hummingbirds fly through and begin to look for territories; females and juveniles arrive during the following two weeks. Hummingbirds are known to return to the same yard as the previous year, sometimes to the same spot where the feeder was hung last year. In order to attract them as they fly by, it is helpful to not only have the feeder out before you see a hummingbird, but to also put out some bright flowers such as pink, magenta or red petunias.

That said, as of today, hummingbirds have been sighted in southern Virginia, some along the Ohio River and two sightings in Connecticut! I will keep you posted but I'll bet that we will see them in the beginning of April, perhaps two weeks earlier than anticipated.