Here’s when hummingbirds leave Maryland! (to migrate south)
Unfortunately, hummingbirds don’t live in Maryland year-round. 🙁
At the end of every summer, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (the only common species in the state) depart Maryland to migrate south to southern Mexico and Central America. They spend the winter here in the warm weather before coming back next spring!
So when exactly do hummingbirds leave Maryland?
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds start their southward migration once their breeding season ends. It’s believed that they can sense the changes in the reduced number of daylight hours, flowers, and insects, which triggers their instinct to leave Maryland.
This means that most hummingbirds leave Maryland by the end of August or early September. By mid-September, almost all birds are gone, and they won’t return again until spring.
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But keep your eyes open for any hummingbirds that started their migration late. It’s not uncommon to see a straggler passing through Maryland towards the end of September, especially if they started their migration from much higher north!
I’m guessing that the reason you wanted to know when hummingbirds leave Maryland is that you were curious when you can put away your feeders for the winter?
Here’s what I always recommend:
Don’t take down your feeders until you haven’t seen a hummingbird for TWO weeks.
Once that happens, you can be very confident that almost all the hummingbirds in Maryland have left for the year!
Trust me; you definitely don’t want to take away the nectar in your yard too early. Hummingbirds migrate a LONG way and need lots of ENERGY, which you can hopefully provide to them.
When do you normally see the last hummingbirds leave Maryland?
Let us know in the COMMENTS section below!
I saw the last one here in Maryland on Tuesday Wednesday this week. We’re having a big nor’easter storm and hopefully they have gone south!
It is Sept. 13th. I just filled the hummingbird feeder and immediately a hummer came to eat!
I have 1 lone hummer here. I recognize it. The rest of the glittering left about 2 -3 weeks ago. I didn’t see anything for a week. Left 1 feeder up and that very evening saw the lone one. Put all the others back up !!! We have had some very cold, windy, rainy, hurricane -like weather. I am so worried about this little creature making it thru this weather, cold and then being able to continue migration travel . I am keeping all feeders up and changing nectar every other day. After prayer, what else can I do ?