Nevada's documented hummingbird list runs to nine species, per the Nevada Bird Records Committee's official state checklist — tied with Oregon, ahead of Idaho's eight, but trailing Utah's ten, California's fourteen, and Arizona's eighteen. What makes Nevada stand out isn't the total count, though — it's the range. Six species clear real, distinct statewide frequencies, from Anna's Hummingbird's genuine year-round presence in the Las Vegas area to a scarce but recurring fall-and-winter visitor tracked at just thirteen total records, ever.

This page's job is identification and confidence — which hummingbirds you're actually looking at in Nevada, and how sure you can be about it.

All 9 documented Nevada hummingbird species, grouped by tier — statewide eBird data, 2016–2025, cross-checked against the Nevada Bird Records Committee's own State Checklist and Review List.

Nevada's Year-Round Residents

Nevada is one of the drier states in this whole series, but it holds a genuine surprise: two hummingbird species never actually leave. Both are concentrated in the far south, especially around Las Vegas and Clark County, and neither appears on the Nevada Bird Records Committee's documentation-required Review List — both are treated as regular, expected species anywhere in their range.

Anna's Hummingbird

Nevada's most frequent hummingbird overall, with a statewide eBird peak near 24% in early March and a real Clark County peak topping 45% in early September. The U.S. Forest Service's own habitat guide for the region is direct: Anna's "can be found year-round in the far southern parts of Nevada." A genuine range expansion in progress, per the state's Breeding Bird Atlas, which lists it among species actively expanding into the state.

Quick ID: The only North American hummingbird with a fully colored crown as well as throat — males glow rose-pink from head to throat. Females show a central patch of rose-red spotting on an otherwise plain throat, with a stocky, broad-tailed build.

Costa's Hummingbird

Nevada's other genuine year-round resident, concentrated in Mojave Desert low-elevation habitat across the south. The same Forest Service guide confirms real year-round presence alongside Anna's, and Clark County shows a real statewide-leading peak near 26% in late August.

Quick ID: Males show an extravagant violet-purple throat that flares out into long points at the sides, almost like a mustache. Females are compact and plain-faced, best told from other small desert hummingbirds by their short tail and a subtle grayish wash rather than the peachy or rufous tones seen on similar species.

The Hummingbirds You're Most Likely to See

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Nevada's most common summer breeder, confirmed across most of the state's low-to-mid elevation range. Cornell's Birds of the World notes the species is most abundant as a breeder "in the southern segments of its range, particularly in riparian habitats" — Nevada's river corridors fit that pattern closely. Statewide frequency peaks near 19% in mid-May.

Quick ID: Males show a velvety black throat, only revealing a thin purple band in direct light — otherwise it just looks solid black. Females are plain and pale-throated, best told apart by white-tipped outer tail feathers and a small white spot behind the eye.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

A genuine high-elevation breeder in Nevada's mountain ranges — Great Basin National Park and the Ruby Mountains' Lamoille Canyon are among the documented sites. Cornell describes the species as the major breeding hummingbird of higher elevations across the southern and central Rockies and eastern California, a range that extends into Nevada's isolated mountain "islands." Real regional signal peaks near 21% in Elko County in late July.

Quick ID: Males have a rose-magenta throat and produce a loud, distinctive metallic wing trill in flight — often heard before seen. Females show green throat spotting rather than solid color, with a pale eyering that helps separate her from similar species.

Calliope Hummingbird

A confirmed Nevada breeder, though thinner statewide than the state's other two breeders. The Western Hummingbird Partnership names Nevada directly as part of the species' expanding core breeding range, alongside Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah — explicitly distinct from states like Colorado and New Mexico, where the species doesn't breed. A real Washoe County (Reno-area) peak near 8% shows up in mid-May.

Quick ID: North America's smallest breeding hummingbird, with a hunched posture and short tail. Males have a unique streaked, ray-like magenta throat unlike any other species' solid gorget. Females are tiny even by hummingbird standards, with very little rufous in the tail.

Nevada's Migrant: Just Passing Through

Rufous Hummingbird

Worth being precise about, since the raw numbers can mislead: Rufous shows a real statewide peak near 13% in late August, a figure high enough that it can look like a breeder at first glance. It isn't one. The U.S. Forest Service's own regional habitat guide is explicit that Rufous only uses Nevada "to fuel their journey" north and south, and the Great Basin Bird Observatory — the same organization that authored Nevada's own Breeding Bird Atlas — treats it as a migrant and priority conservation species, not a state breeder. It's a genuinely regular, expected species here, just not a nesting one.

Quick ID: Males glow with a fiery orange-red throat and a coppery-orange body — one of the most recognizable hummingbirds in North America. Females and immatures are green above with rusty flanks and rufous patches at the base of the tail.

If You're Lucky: Nevada's Documented Rarities

Three more species have accepted Nevada records, all requiring formal committee documentation. Broad-billed Hummingbird has a real, if scarce, recurring pattern; Rivoli's and Ruby-throated are each down to a single endorsed record, decades apart.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

13 total endorsed records through 2024, with a real seasonal pattern the state's own records committee describes directly: "a fall and winter visitor to Nevada, with only two of the 13 endorsed sightings outside of the months from September through February." Records concentrate in Clark and Nye counties, with four accepted in the committee's most recent report alone (2023–2024).

Quick ID: Named for the field mark that settles it at a glance — a bright red bill tipped in black. Males show a shimmering sapphire-blue throat over an emerald-green body; females are duller, golden-green above and gray below, but carry that same diagnostic red-and-black bill.

Rivoli's Hummingbird

A single endorsed Nevada record — Jarbidge, Elko County, June 1986 — confirmed across two separate committee report cycles roughly forty years apart, with nothing in between or since. Originally published under the species' former name, Magnificent Hummingbird.

Quick ID: One of the largest hummingbirds likely to show up in Nevada. Males are dark overall with a glittering green throat and a violet crown visible in good light; females are green above and grayish below, with limited pale tips in the tail corners rather than the bold white outer-tail markings smaller species show.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Nevada's only record, ever — a hatch-year female captured, banded, and released by a local hummingbird bander at Mesquite, Clark County, in September 2014. The state's most recent full records-committee report (covering 2021–2024) contains no additional entry, confirming the total remains exactly one.

Quick ID: Males flash a brilliant ruby-red throat in good light, but it reads as solid black most of the time — the forked black tail is the more reliable everyday mark. Females have a plain whitish throat and a more rounded, white-tipped tail.

Nevada Hummingbirds at a Glance

Statewide peak eBird frequency, 2016–2025. Ruby-throated Hummingbird sits exactly at the ~0.15% eBird rounding floor and isn't plotted here — its record history, a single banded bird in 2014, is documented in the table and species write-up above. Rivoli's Hummingbird generates essentially zero statewide eBird rows, consistent with its single 1986 record.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many hummingbird species have been recorded in Nevada?

Nine, per the Nevada Bird Records Committee's official state checklist — two year-round residents, three breeders, one regular migrant, and three documented rarities. That ties Oregon, edges out Idaho's eight, but trails Utah's ten, California's fourteen, and Arizona's eighteen.

Does Nevada have hummingbirds in winter?

In southern Nevada, yes — Anna's and Costa's Hummingbird are both genuine year-round residents there, concentrated around Las Vegas and other Mojave Desert communities. Elsewhere in the state, hummingbirds are strictly seasonal, gone by mid-fall.

Is Rufous Hummingbird a Nevada breeder?

No, even though its eBird numbers might suggest otherwise at first glance. Nevada's own habitat guides are explicit that Rufous only uses the state's habitat "to fuel their journey" north and south — it's a real, regular migrant here, not a breeder, unlike Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, and Calliope.

How rare is Broad-billed Hummingbird in Nevada?

Genuinely scarce, but not accidental — the Nevada Bird Records Committee has endorsed 13 total records, almost all falling between September and February. That's enough of a recurring pattern that the committee still requires documentation for every sighting, since it remains uncommon enough to track carefully.

Has Allen's Hummingbird been recorded in Nevada?

Not on the Nevada Bird Records Committee's current official state checklist, which lists exactly nine confirmed species. If you've seen it mentioned as a Nevada rarity elsewhere, it's worth double-checking against the committee's own current list.

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 hummingbirds actually show up in my state" — we built this guide to give a direct, sourced answer, not a generic one. Nevada's real hummingbird story is more layered than most desert states get credit for: two genuine year-round residents, a confirmed high-elevation breeder most people wouldn't expect in a desert state, and a migrant whose raw numbers could easily be mistaken for a breeder if you didn't check the actual source language. This page draws each of those lines explicitly, using the Nevada Bird Records Committee's own current documentation.

How We Created This Guide

Source and scope. eBird checklist data for Nevada, 2016–2025, pulled statewide plus three representative counties — Clark (Las Vegas, the southern desert core), Washoe (Reno, the northwestern population center), and Elko (the state's high-elevation northeast) — cross-checked against the Nevada Bird Records Committee's own current State Checklist (updated May 2025) and Review List (updated July 2024).

How we separate a real pattern from a single well-publicized bird. A species clearing a percentage point in eBird's raw data isn't automatically a real pattern — a single well-photographed rarity can draw enough birders to create a real-looking statistic around one bird, and the reverse is just as important to check: a real, regular species can look like a breeder in raw eBird numbers even when it isn't nesting at all. That second case is exactly what happened with Rufous Hummingbird here — its statewide peak (~13%) is high enough to look like breeding-season activity, but Nevada's own habitat authorities are explicit that the state's role is migration fueling only, not nesting. We followed the source language, not the raw magnitude.

What makes the chart honest. Nevada genuinely needed a chart, not a dominance claim — six species clear the noise floor with real, distinct statewide peaks, none towering over all the rest the way a single-breeder state typically does. Ruby-throated Hummingbird sits exactly at the eBird rounding floor and is named in the chart's caption rather than plotted, consistent with how every other state in this series handles genuinely floor-level species.

What's original here. The tiering on this page comes from the Nevada Bird Records Committee's own current documentation, not a generic "species recorded" list — including a distinction most general references collapse: Rufous Hummingbird's tier reflects its actual, sourced role as a migrant, not the mechanical read of its raw eBird numbers alone.

Sources

• eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Nevada statewide, 2016–2025.
• Nevada Bird Records Committee, Great Basin Bird Observatory — source for every rare-species record count and status on this page.