Jul 26, 2026
Florida Hummingbird Season: A Month-by-Month Calendar
Timing derived from eBird data, 2016–2025
There is no single Florida hummingbird season. There's a wave that arrives in the Panhandle in September and works its way down the state — reaching Orlando in October and settling into South Florida for the winter. Then in spring it runs back the other way.
Which means the honest answer to "when do hummingbirds come to Florida?" depends entirely on where in Florida you're standing. Gainesville and Miami are at their busiest six months apart.
New to feeding hummingbirds? Start with our guide to attracting hummingbirds in Florida for feeders, nectar, and native plants. This page is the timing deep dive.
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Arrival and departure windows for all six regions, the Panhandle's winter rarity season, and when the north-south handover happens — printed small enough to tape inside the shed door.
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Florida's Hummingbird Season at a Glance
How often Ruby-throated turns up on eBird checklists, week by week — statewide, 2016–2025. The region-by-region breakdown below tells a very different story in each part of the state.
Regions used below
Western Panhandle — Pensacola
Central Panhandle — Tallahassee
North Peninsula — Gainesville, Jacksonville, Ocala
Central — Orlando, Tampa
South — Miami, Naples, Fort Myers
The Keys — Key West, Marathon
These six behave differently enough that a single statewide calendar would mislead most readers. The Panhandle and South Florida are at their busiest in opposite halves of the year.
How Each Region Compares to the State
The statewide chart above is almost entirely Ruby-throated — Florida's real winter rarities don't show up at that scale, because averaging them across the whole state crushes real, regionally-concentrated populations down to statistical noise. The charts below show four of Florida's six regions at their true, undiluted magnitude: first the region's dominant breeder, then its winter visitors on their own scale.
Western Panhandle (Pensacola)
Buff-bellied is the standout here, peaking at 4.28% of checklists in late November — by far the largest of any rarity anywhere in the state, and well ahead of the next-highest at 2.61%. Rufous and Black-chinned both show genuine winter presence too, peaking at 2.61% and 1.72%. This is unambiguously Florida's best region for winter rarities generally.
North Peninsula (Gainesville)
This is genuinely Broad-billed's real home — its strongest showing anywhere in Florida, peaking in mid-December at more than four times the Tallahassee figure. Calliope peaks here in mid-January, about three weeks later than around Tallahassee. Rufous is a real winter presence here too, peaking in the last week of January.
South Florida (Miami-Dade)
A clear view of Florida's opposite-season split: Ruby-throated is essentially absent here through the Panhandle's busiest stretch (May–August), then climbs through fall to its own peak in October, months after the Panhandle has emptied out. Rufous and Buff-bellied both hold a real, if modest, winter presence — genuine populations, not statistical noise.
The Keys (Monroe County)
The only region in Florida with a genuinely different-shaped season. Everywhere else peaks somewhere between July and February; the Keys peak in April and nowhere else — a pure spring stopover, with no real fall movement and no winter rarities recorded at all. There is no second chart here because there are no winter visitors to show.
January
South Florida's season is in full swing. The north's hasn't started.
| South | Busy. Around Miami this is among the strongest months of the year. |
| Panhandle | Rarity season. Broad-tailed has turned up around Tallahassee in January, though only a handful of times in ten years. Around Gainesville, it's a different set: Rufous peaks in the last week of January, Calliope two weeks earlier. All one or two birds at a time, at backyard feeders. |
| North Peninsula | Very quiet. The breeders are in Central America. |
| Keys | A modest but steady winter presence. |
Why the Panhandle is where the rare birds are
Every hummingbird species on Florida's rarity list is a western bird that took a wrong turn — or, more accurately, took a route that ends in the Southeast instead of Mexico. Those birds arrive along the Gulf, which is why Tallahassee has recorded seven species and the Florida Keys have recorded one.
A maintained feeder in a north Florida garden in January is genuinely how most of them get found.
February
The turn begins.
| Panhandle | Hang your feeders. Rufous and Black-chinned reports peak now, and the first spring Ruby-throated are only weeks away. |
| South | Still strong, but beginning to ease. |
| North Peninsula | Still quiet. Feeders up by month's end. |
March
Spring arrivals sweep north.
| Panhandle & North | Reports climb steeply — around Tallahassee and Pensacola they rise more than fivefold across the month. |
| Keys | Building toward their April high — birds moving north through the islands. |
| South | Falling away as the wintering birds head north. |
April
The Keys have their one month.
| The Keys | Peak. The islands are a spring stopover, not an autumn one — this is the busiest the Keys get all year. |
| Panhandle | A strong spring peak around Pensacola — the northbound wave passing through. |
| North Peninsula | Nesting season begins. |
| South | Emptying fast. By month's end there's almost nothing left. |
Why nesting season is the demanding one
The female does all of it alone — building a walnut-sized nest of plant down bound with spider silk, often over water, then incubating two eggs for about two weeks and feeding the young for three more. In Florida's long warm season she may do it twice, occasionally three times.
There's a wrinkle specific to hummingbirds. Most birds store calcium in their bones and draw on it while laying. Hummingbirds don't. A female building eggshell has to find calcium in real time, from a diet that's almost entirely nectar — and researchers have repeatedly documented nesting females eating wood ash, lime and soil to get it. Males have never been observed doing the same.
May
South Florida goes quiet — completely.
| South & Keys | Effectively empty. By the end of May there are weeks with no hummingbird reports at all. |
| Panhandle & North | Breeding underway, though numbers dip as females settle onto nests. |
| Central | Its quietest stretch of the year. |
What to do: Heat is the issue now. Above 90°F change nectar daily, and keep the feeder in shade.
June
The gap.
| South & Keys | Nothing. Miami-Dade and the Keys both record essentially zero hummingbirds this month. |
| Panhandle & North | Climbing again as the first young birds fledge. |
What to do: If you're south of Orlando and your feeder is untouched, nothing is wrong. Your season starts in September.
July
North Florida's biggest month begins.
| North Peninsula | Peak. Around Gainesville this is the busiest stretch of the year — local breeders plus this summer's young. |
| Panhandle | Climbing hard toward September. |
| South & Keys | Still empty. |
What to do: In the north, add a second feeder if you're seeing chasing. Place two out of sight of each other and you'll host far more birds.
August
The build toward the biggest month in the state.
| Panhandle | Still climbing, but the big jump already happened in July — Pensacola is up about 70% from where it started that month, and holding at a high plateau into September. |
| North Peninsula | Holding at its summer high. |
| South | The first birds of the new season appear late in the month. |
September
The Panhandle has the biggest month anywhere in Florida.
| Panhandle | Peak, and it's dramatic. Around Pensacola nearly half of all bird lists record a hummingbird — the highest figure anywhere in the state, in any month. |
| Why here? | These birds are staging for a nonstop crossing of the Gulf of Mexico, the same way they do on the Alabama coast just west. They're eating for a 500-mile flight over open water. |
| South | Filling fast — the winter season is starting. |
What to do: In the Panhandle this is the month to be generous. Fill often, add feeders, expect crowds.
October
The wave reaches the peninsula.
| Central | Peak. Around Orlando this is comfortably the busiest month of the year. |
| South | Peak. Miami reaches its yearly high — four months after the north peninsula reached theirs. |
| Panhandle | Ruby-throated collapsing — from near-peak in the first week to almost nothing by the last. Buff-bellied are already arriving behind them, building toward a late-November peak. |
| Planting | Prime wildflower sowing window in north and central Florida. |
What to do: Sow the Perfect Little Sanctuary® blend now, ahead of the cooler dry season. And if you're in South Florida, this is the month to have the feeder out and clean.
November
The north empties; the south settles in.
| South & Keys | Settled into the winter season, and staying that way until spring. |
| Panhandle | Ruby-throated are gone — but Buff-bellied Hummingbirds build to their peak this month, and the western rarities begin turning up. |
| North Peninsula | Quiet until spring. |
What to do: In the Panhandle, don't put the feeder away. November through February is when north Florida's most interesting hummingbirds show up, and a maintained feeder is how nearly all of them are found.
December
Two very different Floridas.
| South | Busy and steady. Around Miami, December is a better hummingbird month than June by an enormous margin. |
| Panhandle | Rarity season opens properly. Calliope reports peak this month around Tallahassee. Around Gainesville, Broad-billed shows its own real peak — actually the strongest Broad-billed signal anywhere in the state. |
| Everywhere else | Quiet. |
The Year at a Glance
| When | What |
|---|---|
| December – February | Panhandle rarity season; South Florida at its busiest |
| February | Feeders up in the Panhandle and north peninsula |
| March | Spring arrivals sweep north; South Florida empties |
| April | The Keys peak; nesting begins in north Florida |
| May – August | South Florida and the Keys are empty |
| July – August | North peninsula peak |
| September | Panhandle peak — the biggest month anywhere in Florida |
| October | Central and South Florida peak; sow wildflower seed |
| November | Buff-bellied and western rarities arrive in the Panhandle |
Frequently Asked Questions
When do hummingbirds come to Florida?
It depends entirely on where you are. The Panhandle sees its spring wave in March and April. The north peninsula follows through spring into its own July–August peak. South Florida and the Keys are the exception — their Ruby-throated population is already resident through winter and simply builds through fall, peaking in October.
When do hummingbirds leave Florida?
The Panhandle empties fast after its September peak, down to almost nothing by November. The north peninsula follows a similar pattern through fall. South Florida and the Keys don't really "leave" in the way the rest of the state does — Ruby-throated just thins out gradually through spring as the wintering population heads north.
Are there hummingbirds in Florida in winter?
Yes, especially in South Florida, where winter is actually the busiest season. The Panhandle also holds real winter interest — this is when Rufous, Black-chinned, and Buff-bellied are most likely to turn up at a backyard feeder, especially around Pensacola and Gainesville.
Why is my Florida feeder empty in summer?
If you're south of Orlando, that's completely normal — Ruby-throated is essentially absent from South Florida and the Keys from May through August. If you're in the Panhandle or north peninsula, summer is actually your busiest stretch, so an empty summer feeder there is worth a closer look at placement and nectar freshness.
When is the best time to see a rare hummingbird in Florida?
Winter, and specifically the Panhandle and north peninsula. Pensacola is the strongest region overall for winter rarities — Rufous, Black-chinned, and especially Buff-bellied, which peaks there at more than three times its next-best location. Gainesville is actually the best place for Broad-billed and Calliope specifically, both of which peak there in December and January.
How We Built This Calendar
The month-by-month pattern comes from ten years of citizen-science observation rather than general guidance. We pulled eBird bar chart data for Florida covering 2016 through 2025, plus six counties chosen to represent each part of the state — Escambia for the western Panhandle, Leon for Tallahassee, Alachua for the north peninsula, Orange for central Florida, Miami-Dade for the south, and Monroe for the Keys — and read the seasonal shape directly off the reporting rates.
We then checked those patterns against University of Florida IFAS Extension and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and against the published banding research on hummingbirds wintering in Florida and southern Alabama.
Where we give percentages, they describe how often a species is reported on submitted bird lists — a measure of how likely you are to come across one, not a count of how many birds there are.
Sources
- eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Florida statewide plus Escambia, Leon, Alachua, Orange, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, 2016–2025.
- University of Florida IFAS Extension — Hummingbirds of Florida. Source for breeding range, nesting, and feeder guidance.
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
- Bassett, F., & Cubie, D. (2009). Wintering hummingbirds in Alabama and Florida. Journal of Field Ornithology, 80(2), 154–162.
- des Lauriers, J. R. (1994). Hummingbirds eating ashes. The Auk, 111(3), 755–756. Documents nesting female hummingbirds consuming calcium-rich wood ash; males were never observed doing so.
Want feeder setup, nectar ratios, and native plant picks for your part of the state? See our full guide to attracting hummingbirds in Florida.
Know before they arrive
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Bethany Sloan has served as General Manager of Pop's Birding since 2010, continuing the legacy of her grandfather, William "Pops" Sloan, inventor of the Original Hummingbird Swing. A lifelong hummingbird enthusiast, educator, and independent researcher, she leads the company's educational content, including its 50-State Hummingbird Guide series, Regional Guide, Species Guide and Hummingbird Learning Center. Bethany combines scientific research, regional migration data, and more than 16 years of hands-on experience to create trusted educational resources for bird enthusiasts across North America.
