When an immature male Allen's Hummingbird turned up at a feeder in Fenton, Missouri in November 2008, it was Lanny Chambers — one of the state's few certified hummingbird banders — who caught it, weighed it, and measured its tail feathers closely enough to confirm a species that had never been documented in Missouri before. That's not a story about a lucky sighting. It's a story about how close Missouri's rarest hummingbirds can look to its common ones — close enough that the real difference sometimes comes down to millimeters, not something you can call from across the yard.

This page exists to make that call easier. It covers identification and status for all 10 species confirmed in Missouri — who's actually common, who's a genuine seasonal visitor, and who's been seen exactly once. For when they show up and how long they stay, see our Missouri hummingbird calendar; for feeder setup and native plants, see how to attract hummingbirds in Missouri.

All 10 documented Missouri hummingbird species, grouped by tier — statewide eBird data, 2016–2025, cross-checked against the Missouri Bird Records Committee's own accepted-record history.

The Hummingbird You're Most Likely to See

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Missouri's only confirmed breeding hummingbird, and by a wide margin its most common — statewide checklist frequency peaks near 45% in early September, and reaches as high as 56% in the St. Louis region. If you see a hummingbird anywhere in Missouri between late April and early October, this is almost certainly it. Males carry a brilliant iridescent red throat that can look solid black without direct light hitting it, paired with a forked black tail; females have a plain whitish throat and a more rounded tail with white tips. The Missouri Bird Records Committee codes it a common summer resident statewide, with only accidental winter records — the latest documented stragglers, including a banded bird tracked in Columbia, reach no later than mid-December, and there's zero record of one surviving into January or February.

Quick ID: Adult males show an all-red iridescent throat and a forked black tail; females and immatures are green-backed with plain white underparts and white-tipped outer tail feathers. The classic mix-up is with Black-chinned Hummingbird — on Ruby-throated, the folded wings fall well short of the tail tip, while Black-chinned's wings reach almost to it.

Missouri Hummingbirds in Winter

Ruby-throated's season doesn't wrap Missouri's hummingbird story up entirely — it just hands it off. Starting in late July, a second species begins a slow build that peaks well after the state's only breeder has gone quiet.

Rufous Hummingbird

The only Missouri species the Missouri Bird Records Committee rates "Rare" in the frequency sense that matters here — more than 15 total records, seen most years, not just once or twice. Every other western hummingbird on Missouri's list is Casual or Accidental; Rufous stands alone as a real, repeatable visitor. Its real activity starts as scattered wandering individuals in late summer, then builds through November into a genuine, meaningful presence that runs into December — the closest thing Missouri has to a winter hummingbird season. Males are one of the easier hummingbirds to identify at a glance: a mostly rufous, coppery-orange back with a throat that glows orange-red in good light. Females are trickier, green above with rusty-washed flanks, and are the one species in Missouri genuinely worth double-checking against Allen's Hummingbird before calling it — see the note under Allen's below.

Quick ID: Adult males are almost entirely orange-rufous with a glowing orange-red throat — one of the easier Missouri hummingbirds to call at a glance. Females and immatures are green above with cinnamon-washed flanks and rufous at the base of the tail. Separating them from Allen's Hummingbird is a genuine, often unresolved problem: the two are described as nearly indistinguishable in the field, reliably told apart only by tail feather width visible in the hand or a very good spread-tail photo.

If You're Lucky: Missouri's Wandering Rarities

Eight more species have real, accepted Missouri records — but "accepted" covers a wide range, from birds seen a handful of times most years to birds documented exactly once, decades apart. Three have a genuine, repeatable pattern behind their record. Five are true one-offs.

Anna's Hummingbird

Missouri's Bird Records Committee codes Anna's "Casual" — the committee's own definition is 5 to 15 records, occasionally observed, one tier above Accidental. It's the only North American hummingbird with a fully iridescent crown as well as throat; males glow rose-pink from the top of the head down. Females show a central patch of rose-red spotting on an otherwise plain throat. Worth a specific caution here: Anna's sightings in Missouri cluster heavily in early December, which lines up suspiciously well with Christmas Bird Count season — a period when far more birders than usual are actively looking, which can inflate a genuine but scarce species' numbers without reflecting a real change in how often it's actually present. Treat any December Anna's report with a bit of extra scrutiny before assuming a pattern.

Quick ID: The only North American hummingbird with an iridescent crown as well as throat — males glow rose-pink from the top of the head down, unlike anything else on Missouri's list. Females can be confused with female Black-chinned Hummingbird: Anna's is plumper and shorter-billed, usually shows a small red throat spot, and holds its tail still, while Black-chinned pumps its tail frequently in flight.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Coded "Accidental" by the Missouri Bird Records Committee, but with a real, recurring record history behind that label — at least three accepted records since 2004, the most recent in 2022, both from the St. Louis area. Males show a velvety black throat bordered by a thin purple band that's easy to miss in anything but direct light; females are pale and essentially unmarked, best told apart by white-tipped outer tail feathers. The Missouri Department of Conservation is blunt about why this species is hard to confirm here: western hummingbird identification "is usually extremely difficult" in subdued or immature plumage, and female and immature Black-chinned are close to inseparable from Ruby-throated without a bird in the hand. That ID difficulty is likely part of why Missouri's real eBird signal for this species looks stronger than its committee-accepted record count — not every reported sighting holds up.

Quick ID: Adult males show a throat that looks solid black in most light, with a thin iridescent purple band visible only at the very base in direct sun. Females and immatures are notoriously close to Ruby-throated; the most useful mark is that Black-chinned's folded wingtips reach nearly to the tail tip, while Ruby-throated's tail extends clearly beyond the wings.

Calliope Hummingbird

North America's smallest breeding bird, and Missouri has two real accepted records to show for it — both immature males, both photographed and banded: one near Columbia in 2002, one near Ozark in 2014. Males have a streaked, ray-like magenta throat unlike any other North American hummingbird's solid gorget. Females and immatures are simply tiny, smaller than a female Rufous, with very little rufous coloring in the tail. Despite two solid records, Calliope has zero signal in Missouri's own eBird data — a genuine committee-only species, confirmed entirely through banding records rather than casual sightings.

Quick ID: The smallest hummingbird in the U.S. — noticeably tiny with a short tail that sits about level with the wingtips at rest. Adult males show a streaked, rayed magenta throat rather than a solid gorget, unlike any other species on this list. Told from Rufous mainly by size and tail length; Rufous is larger with a tail that extends past its folded wings.

Allen's Hummingbird

Missouri's best-documented single record: an immature male banded in Fenton in November 2008, with full in-hand measurements on file — weight, wing chord, even the width of a single tail feather. Nothing since, in eighteen years. Males show a reddish-orange throat against a mostly solid green back; females and immatures are essentially identical to female Rufous in the field, distinguished reliably only by tail-feather shape and width, the exact kind of measurement that made Missouri's one record possible in the first place. If you think you've found an Allen's in Missouri, treat it the way the state's own record was confirmed — it's not a call to make from a distance.

Quick ID: Nearly identical to Rufous Hummingbird in female and immature plumage — both are green-backed with rusty-washed flanks and rufous in the tail. All About Birds calls the two "nearly indistinguishable in the field," and Missouri's only record was confirmed through banding rather than a field sighting for exactly this reason.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Missouri's only accepted Broad-billed record is a well-documented one: an adult male photographed over two days in late May 2021 at a private residence in Holden, Johnson County. The Missouri Bird Records Committee's own report calls it, plainly, a “definitive, and first, Missouri record” of a species that normally nests no closer than southern Arizona. Males are hard to mistake for anything else on this list — a bright red bill tipped in black, on an otherwise mostly iridescent blue-green bird.

Quick ID: The bright red, black-tipped bill is diagnostic in every plumage — no other Missouri species shows red on the bill at all, which makes this one of the more straightforward calls on this list despite the rarity. Adult males add extensive iridescent blue-green across the throat and body.

Rivoli's Hummingbird

Formerly called Magnificent Hummingbird, and arguably the best-documented rarity on this entire list: a bird videotaped at a private residence in Oldfield, Christian County, in June 2020, with the record independently reviewed by hummingbird specialist Steve N.G. Howell and a specimen later examined at the University of Kansas. Like Broad-billed, the Records Committee calls it a “definitive, and first” Missouri record. Rivoli's is one of the continent's largest hummingbirds — a big, long-billed bird that can read as all-dark until the light catches an emerald throat and violet-blue crown.

Quick ID: One of the largest hummingbirds on the continent — roughly double the mass of a Black-chinned Hummingbird, with a long, almost straight bill. Adult males can look all-dark until the light reveals an emerald throat and violet crown; size and bill length alone rule out every other species on Missouri's list.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

One of two Missouri species with exactly one accepted record and nothing since: a banded adult male photographed in Farmington in June 2008 — the same county, though not the same year, as one of Black-chinned's own accepted records. A genuine committee-only species, with zero trace in Missouri's own eBird data, confirmed entirely through the state's formal review process.

Quick ID: Adult males show a rose-magenta throat close enough to Ruby-throated's red to cause real confusion; the most reliable field mark isn't visual at all — males produce a distinctive high, metallic wing-trill in flight that Ruby-throated doesn't make. Females show cinnamon-colored tail feathers, versus the green-and-black tail of a female Ruby-throated.

Mexican Violetear

Missouri's oldest active hummingbird record and its other single-record species: an unmistakable all-emerald and violet-blue tropical bird videotaped at a Reynolds County feeder in June 1993. Like Broad-tailed, it's a genuine committee-only species — zero trace in Missouri's own eBird data, confirmed entirely through the state's formal review process.

Quick ID: Unmistakable — an all-emerald body with violet-blue patches on the sides of the neck and a violet-blue chest band found on no other Missouri species, on a noticeably larger bird than a typical Missouri hummingbird.

Missouri Hummingbirds at a Glance

One species accounts for nearly all of Missouri's hummingbird activity: Ruby-throated peaks near 45% of statewide checklists, while every other confirmed species tops out under half a percent. That gap is too wide for a shared bar chart to show anything useful — it would be one full bar and nine invisible slivers — so here's the same information as a table instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many kinds of hummingbirds have been documented in Missouri?

Ten, all officially accepted by the Missouri Bird Records Committee. Just one, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, breeds in the state or shows up reliably enough to expect at a typical feeder; the other nine range from a real annual visitor (Rufous) down to single sightings decades apart.

What's the rarest hummingbird ever recorded in Missouri?

Missouri's oldest active hummingbird record is a Mexican Violetear videotaped at a Reynolds County feeder in June 1993 — an all-emerald tropical species with no business anywhere near the Midwest. Nothing has been seen since. Four other species share the same one-record status, just more recently: Allen's and Broad-tailed Hummingbird (both 2008), Broad-billed Hummingbird (Holden, 2021), and Rivoli's Hummingbird (Oldfield, 2020) — the last two both officially logged by the Missouri Bird Records Committee as “definitive, and first,” Missouri records.

How do you tell a Ruby-throated Hummingbird from a Black-chinned in Missouri?

In good light, it's the throat color — Ruby-throated's is red, Black-chinned's is black with a thin purple band at the bottom. The trouble is that both throats can look solid black without direct light hitting them, and female and immature birds of both species are close to impossible to separate in the field. The Missouri Department of Conservation puts it plainly: this kind of identification "is usually extremely difficult" without a bird in the hand, which is exactly why Black-chinned's Missouri status rests on banded specimens rather than field sightings alone.

Has an Anna's Hummingbird ever been confirmed in Missouri?

Yes — the Missouri Bird Records Committee codes it "Casual," meaning 5 to 15 accepted records. Most reports cluster in early December, which overlaps with Christmas Bird Count season, so a real but scarce visitor can look more common in the data than it actually is during that specific window.

Which Missouri hummingbirds are hardest to tell apart?

Female and immature Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds. Both are green above with rusty-washed flanks, and the field marks that separate them — the exact width and shape of individual tail feathers — are difficult to see without a bird in the hand. Missouri's own Allen's record was confirmed this way, through banding, not a field sighting.

Why We Created This Guide

Pop's Birding has been helping hummingbird lovers for three generations. One of the questions our customers ask most often is "what kind of hummingbird did I just see?" — we built this guide to give a direct, sourced answer for Missouri specifically, not a generic list that could apply to any state. Most identification content online treats "hummingbirds in the Midwest" as one interchangeable group; Missouri's real list runs from a bird you'll see all summer to birds confirmed exactly once in over thirty years, and lumping those together does readers a disservice.

How We Created This Guide

Source and scope. Every species and status on this page comes from the Missouri Bird Records Committee's Annotated Checklist of Missouri Birds (Missouri Birding Society, mobirds.org), cross-checked against Robbins, The Status and Distribution of Birds in Missouri (2nd ed., 2020) for individual record dates, and eBird bar chart data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), statewide, 2016–2025.

How we separate a real pattern from a single well-publicized bird. A rare species can look more common in raw checklist data than it really is, especially around Christmas Bird Count season when far more people are actively birding. Before calling any species a repeatable visitor rather than a one-off, we checked its record history against the Missouri Bird Records Committee's own accepted-record count and dates — a stronger, independently verified source than eBird frequency alone. That check is why Anna's and Black-chinned carry a specific caution about December activity, and why five of Missouri's ten species are shown as single, isolated records rather than an ongoing pattern.

What's original here. The tier grouping on this page follows the Missouri Bird Records Committee's own occurrence codes rather than a generic "rare/common" split, and every rarity's status traces to a specific accepted record. All 10 species now carry a complete, sourced record narrative — including Broad-billed and Rivoli's Hummingbird, whose exact record details came directly from the Committee's own 33rd and 34th Annual Reports rather than an unconfirmed secondary-source date.

Sources

• Missouri Bird Records Committee, Annotated Checklist of Missouri Birds — Missouri Birding Society. Source for all 10 species and their official occurrence status.
• Robbins, The Status and Distribution of Birds in Missouri, 2nd ed. (2020). Source for individual accepted-record dates and locations.
• 33rd and 34th Annual Reports of the Missouri Bird Records Committee (2020 and 2021 records), The Bluebird, journal of the Missouri Birding Society. Source for the Rivoli's and Broad-billed Hummingbird record narratives.
• eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Missouri statewide, 2016–2025.
• All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — source for identification field marks.