Here’s when hummingbirds leave Maryland! (to migrate south)

ByScott
8 Comments

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?

when do hummingbirds leave

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.

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.

hummingbirds leaving

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!

When Do Hummingbirds Return to Maryland? (Get your feeders ready!)

Scott is the creator of Bird Watching HQ. His goal is to inspire you to care more about the birds and wildlife in YOUR backyard. Over the past 5 years, he has been focused on improving the habitat in his own yard by doing things like adding native plants, not using pesticides, etc. He is happy to report that over 50 species of birds have now been seen on his 1.5-acre property (that's in a suburban neighborhood). Learn more about Scott on his About page. And make sure to check out his LIVE bird cameras.

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8 Comments

  1. 1/21/2025 – Pocomoke MD
    I still have 1 lone hummingbird left. I cannot believe it is still here in this freezing weather. Had to buy another feeder today so I can swap them out during the day to keep the food from freezing.

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  2. It’s Oct 2, 2024 . Yesterday one Hummingbird was still here; I had one Ruby and two females all summer, The male left a week ago, but yesterday I had only one female. Today I have not seen her. I will leave my feeder up for a couple more weeks.
    Peggy. Cumberland MD.

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  3. September 25, 2024 Snow Hill, MD
    I still have a few females at my feeders, but the males and most females have been gone for about a week. I’ll miss them!

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  4. Happy Labor Day everybody. I just put a fresh feeder out and immediately the first hummer came. I always leave my feeder up until about the end of October to make sure that the very last birds coming from further up north (Canada) find nourishment during their travel to the South. For the first feedings in spring (I’ve seen them as early as March so I always start putting my feeder out at the beginning of March) and for the last feedings now, as the weather gets cooler, I give them sugar water with a ratio of 1/3 sugar and 2/3 water ( I researched it). In summer time the mix should be no more that 1/4 sugar because otherwise the little guys can become dehydrated. – We have lived here on our 1 acre property for 22 years, and I enjoy watching the hummers every year. And other birds, and all the other critters that live here, from the tiniest native bees to big hairy bumble bees, dragon flies, praying mantises, walking sticks, frogs, toads, snakes, blue tailed skinks, opossums, foxes, and bats . No pesticides, no herbicides, no chemical fertilizers. Never. Our “lawn” is mostly greenery that gets mowed down, and I get my workouts weeding by hand LOL. But when I get to watch all of our critters every year, it is worth it.

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  5. 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!

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  7. 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 ?

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