Hummingbird Migration

When should we take our hummingbird feeders down? This is a question we hear very often at this time of year; the simple answer is that you don’t take it down until the hummingbirds have all migrated!

Many of you have been told in the past that if you don’t take the feeder down, the hummingbirds won’t leave. Believe me, this is an old wives’ tale! Hummingbirds, like all migratory birds, instinctively know when to return to their wintering grounds. No amount of hummingbird feeders is going to prevent their migration. Now, there have been documented cases of stranded hummingbirds. I read one account of a ruby-throat that was harbored in a lady’s sunroom all winter after getting “lost” during its migratory trip south. But these are rare occurrences indeed!

Your feeders are stop-over spots for the birds migrating from further north. During migration, hummingbirds are building up fat reserves to help them make that last push across the Gulf of Mexico. It’s about a 600 mile flight and the little guys do it non-stop — about 20 hours!

My suggestion is that you leave your hummer feeders up until 1-2 weeks have gone by during which time you have seen no hummingbirds. This could be as late as mid-October, so it wouldn’t hurt to leave the feeder out until October 31st. This will ensure that all the ruby-throats migrating from North America have the energy required to get to their wintering grounds in Mexico and Central America. We want them healthy so they can turn around and return to our feeders next Spring!