Texas sits at the crossroads of the Central and Mississippi Flyways, which is why it's the single most diverse state in the country for hummingbirds — nineteen species accepted on the official Texas Bird Records Committee state list, the most of any U.S. state, with Arizona a close second at eighteen. But nineteen species doesn't sort itself into a simple "common vs. rare" split. Texas has six species present essentially year-round, five more with a real breeding season here, six that pass through or winter without nesting, and two genuine long-shots — including one, Ruby-throated, that most of the country assumes is "just a migrant" but is actually Texas's most consistently present hummingbird of all.

This guide sorts out which is which: the six species you can find in any month, the five that have a real nesting season here, the six migrants and winter visitors worth knowing by name, and the two genuine rarities. For feeder setup, native plants, and pest-safe care, see our how-to-attract guide. For exact arrival and departure windows by region, see the Texas hummingbird calendar.

Species grouped by year-round presence, breeding status, and migration pattern — statewide eBird data (2016–2025) checked week by week against real seasonal clusters, not raw sighting counts.

Year-Round Residents: Texas's Most Reliable Hummingbirds

Six species show a real, meaningful presence in Texas in every month of the year, including December and January — not just a long spring-through-fall season, but genuine winter presence too.

Ruby-throated HummingbirdResident

The single largest raw signal in the entire Texas dataset, present in effectively every week of the year — genuinely Texas's most reliable hummingbird, not primarily a migrant passing through as it's often described.

Quick ID: Adult males are unmistakable in good light: an emerald-green back and a brilliant, iridescent ruby-red throat (or gorget) that can flash black when the angle is wrong — a trait shared with several other species, so light matters as much as color when you're trying to identify one. Females and immatures lack the red throat entirely, showing a plain whitish throat, golden-green upperparts, and a rounded tail with white outer tips, per Cornell Lab's identification guide.

Real numbers do shift through the year — enormous numbers pour through in fall, and around Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley, September sightings run close to double what they are in spring. But Ruby-throated doesn't disappear the rest of the year the way a pure "migrant" label would suggest; it holds a real presence in every region we track, all twelve months.

How to tell it apart: Ruby-throated is the only hummingbird confirmed breeding across most of the eastern half of the country, so east of Texas, it's usually a safe default ID. In Texas itself that shortcut breaks down — Black-chinned overlaps heavily across Central and West Texas, and females of the two species are essentially impossible to separate in the field, which is exactly why so many summer sightings simply get logged as "a hummingbird."

Black-chinned HummingbirdResident

The hummingbird that raises families across Central and West Texas, and — like Ruby-throated — present year-round when the full state is considered, not just during the breeding months. Cornell Lab describes it as "the same size as Ruby-throated" — a small, slender bird with a straight bill — which is exactly why the two are so often confused.

Quick ID: Adult males show a black face and throat with only a thin band of iridescent purple at the lower edge of the gorget, visible mainly at the right angle, plus a small white spot behind the eye that's a useful field mark even at a distance. Females are dull metallic green above with whitish underparts and are not reliably separable from female Ruby-throated outside of careful photography.

Black-chinned arrive in mid-March across Central and West Texas and hold steady right through summer — around Austin, they're the hummingbird you'll actually see in July, when Ruby-throated numbers have bottomed out. In the Rio Grande Valley they don't really "arrive" at all, because they never fully leave: Black-chinned are reported there every week of the year. If you have hummingbirds nesting in your yard in Central or West Texas, these are almost certainly them.

Buff-bellied HummingbirdResident

Texas's best-known year-round hummingbird, and the reason South Texas never really has an off-season. In the Rio Grande Valley, Buff-bellied are the one hummingbird you can count on in January, and by September they're at nearly every feeder — down there, this isn't a specialty bird, it's the default hummingbird.

Quick ID: Sexes look similar. Audubon's field guide describes it as "a stocky hummer, mostly green, with chestnut tail, red bill with black tip, pale buff belly" — a genuinely distinctive combination among U.S. hummingbirds, since no other regularly occurring species pairs a red-and-black bill with a rusty tail.

They thin out quickly north of Corpus Christi and essentially disappear inland. Coastal numbers can also drop in fall and winter as some post-breeding birds wander northeast toward Louisiana, per Cornell Lab — the Rio Grande Valley population is the truly resident one.

Broad-billed HummingbirdResident

Genuinely present year-round in Big Bend, with real winter signal confirmed across every winter week we checked — a meaningfully stronger, more reliable presence than the "Big Bend rarity" reputation this species sometimes gets.

Quick ID: Adult males are unmistakable, with an orangish-red bill tipped in black and an iridescent blue-green throat and body. Females are duller, grayish below with a more subdued bill color.

If you're anywhere near the Chisos or Davis Mountains, Broad-billed isn't a long-shot the way some of Texas's other West Texas specialties are — it's a genuine, dependable presence across the whole year.

Broad-tailed HummingbirdResident

Another Big Bend species with a real, year-round presence rather than just a summer visit — confirmed signal in every winter week we checked, all twelve months represented.

Quick ID: Adult males produce a distinctive high-pitched, insect-like trill with their wings in flight — often the first sign one's nearby, before it's even visible — and show an iridescent rose-magenta throat. Females lack the trill and the throat color, showing a plain whitish throat with fine dark spotting and warm cinnamon-buff flanks.

Anna's HummingbirdResident

Present across nearly the whole year in West Texas, with real signal in 11 of 12 months — genuinely more of a fixture than a rarity there, though it doesn't nest across most of the rest of the state the way it does farther west in Arizona.

Quick ID: Adult males show an iridescent rose-red crown and throat that can look nearly black without direct light — the only U.S. hummingbird with color on the crown itself. Females and immatures are green above with a paler throat, sometimes showing a few red flecks.

Breeding Specialties

Five more species have a real, confirmed nesting season in Texas — genuine breeders, not just passing migrants — but without the same year-round winter presence as the six residents above. All five are concentrated in the Big Bend and Davis Mountains region, where Brewster County alone hosts more regularly-occurring hummingbird species than the entire year-round list of most states.

Lucifer HummingbirdBreeds Here

The signature Big Bend specialty and a bird most American birders travel specifically to see. Real data shows two genuine seasonal clusters — a spring build and a summer peak, both real breeding-season patterns — with no meaningful winter presence. Lucifer is a true seasonal breeder here, present and findable from spring through fall, gone in winter.

Quick ID: Adult males show a dramatic, flared magenta-purple gorget and a distinctly curved bill, with a deeply forked tail characteristic of the "sheartail" hummingbird group. Females lack the gorget but share the same curved bill.

Rivoli's HummingbirdBreeds Here

A real March-through-October breeding season in the Big Bend region, without the winter presence that would make it a true year-round resident. One of the largest hummingbirds in the country, genuinely common within its limited range despite its size.

Quick ID: Adult males are dark overall with a glittering green throat and a violet crown visible in good light; females are green above and grayish below, notably larger than most other Texas species.

Blue-throated Mountain-gemBreeds Here

A sustained March-through-September breeding cluster in the Big Bend region, with real weekly signal throughout that season. One of the largest hummingbirds found in the United States.

Quick ID: Adult males show a striking, solid blue throat patch bordered by white facial stripes; females lack the blue throat but share the same bold white eye-stripe and large size.

White-eared HummingbirdBreeds Here

A real, sustained July-through-September breeding cluster in the Big Bend region — genuinely more than the occasional rarity it's sometimes described as. Named for its most reliable field mark: a bold white stripe behind the eye, visible on both sexes.

Quick ID: Adult males add a striking violet-blue crown and throat, with a red bill tipped in black; females are duller but keep the diagnostic white ear stripe and red-based bill.

Mexican VioletearBreeds Here

A genuine April-through-August breeding pattern in Texas — real, repeatable signal across that whole window, with recorded peaks well above what a single stray individual would produce.

Quick ID: Sexes look alike — shining green overall with a glittering violet-blue patch on the sides of the neck and chest, and a blue-green tail crossed by a bold black band. Noticeably larger than most other Texas species, with a mostly straight black bill.

Migrants and Winter Visitors

Six species pass through or winter in Texas without ever nesting here — genuine, repeatable seasonal patterns, just not a breeding presence.

Rufous HummingbirdMigrant/Winter

A fall spectacle in West Texas and a genuine winter presence almost everywhere else — one of the strongest signals in the whole Texas dataset, despite never nesting here. Cornell Lab calls it "one of the feistiest hummingbirds in North America" — both sexes are aggressive toward other hummingbirds year-round, not just during breeding season, and they'll challenge species double their own weight.

Quick ID: Adult males are unmistakably coppery-orange; females and immatures are green-backed with rufous-washed flanks and rufous patches in the tail, which is the field mark to check since a green-backed Rufous male can otherwise be mistaken for Allen's.

Rufous are all but absent from Texas in June, then surge through Big Bend in August — going from essentially none to one of the commonest birds at a feeder in a matter of weeks, as much of the western breeding population funnels south along the mountains. Elsewhere in the state they settle in for the winter in smaller numbers and are among the most likely hummingbirds at a Texas feeder in January, outside the Rio Grande Valley.

Costa's HummingbirdMigrant/Winter

A real winter visitor to West Texas, with a genuine November-through-December cluster plus scattered fall records — a meaningfully different pattern than in Arizona, where Costa's is a year-round resident. Texas sits at the eastern edge of Costa's range, and here it shows up as a winter specialty rather than a breeder.

Quick ID: Adult males have a dramatic, flared iridescent purple crown and throat; females are green above with a clean whitish throat.

Calliope HummingbirdMigrant/Winter

A genuine migrant with a real, concentrated fall-and-winter pattern in West Texas — the smallest breeding bird in the United States, though it doesn't breed here, only passes through and winters.

Quick ID: Adult males have a truly unique field mark: a gorget of magenta streaks radiating out from the throat like a starburst, a pattern no other North American hummingbird shows. Females and immatures are far plainer — green above, peachy-washed underparts, with fine dark stippling on the throat rather than solid color.

Allen's HummingbirdMigrant/Winter

Allen's shows a genuine pattern in Texas concentrated in January/February and again August through December — a real winter and late-fall visitor, not nesting here.

Quick ID: Adult male Allen's can be told from Rufous by a solid green back with no rufous feathering at all; if a bird shows any solid-rufous back feathers, it's a Rufous, not an Allen's. Beyond that one field mark, females and immatures of the two species are, per Audubon's own field guide, "almost impossible to separate... without close examination" — reliable separation typically requires a bird in hand and a licensed bander.

Berylline HummingbirdMigrant/Winter

Berylline shows a genuine, sustained January-through-March cluster in Texas — a real winter visitor.

Quick ID: An overall coppery-green species best identified by its wings and tail: rich rufous patches on the wings and a rufous-edged tail, visible even when the bird is perched. Both sexes look broadly similar.

Violet-crowned HummingbirdMigrant/Winter

Violet-crowned shows two genuine peaks in Texas: a spring spike and a real November-December winter cluster.

Quick ID: Genuinely distinctive and easy to identify even at a distance: a clean white throat and belly, unusual for a hummingbird, paired with a shining violet-blue crown and a red bill with a black tip. Sexes look alike — both show the same white underparts and violet crown, an uncommon trait among North American hummingbirds.

Ruby-throated vs. Black-chinned: Where Identification Actually Breaks Down

Adult male Ruby-throated and Black-chinned Hummingbirds are usually easy to tell apart in good light — one shows a red gorget, the other a black one edged in violet-purple. But Cornell Lab's own species comparison is blunt about the rest: females and immatures of the two species are close to identical in the field. The one reliable field mark on a perched bird is wing-to-tail proportions — Ruby-throated has a longer tail that extends visibly past the wingtips at rest, while Black-chinned has longer wings that reach the tip of the tail or extend just slightly beyond it. Some birders also watch for tail-pumping: Black-chinned habitually pumps its tail while hovering, Ruby-throated tends to hold its tail still.

The Genuine Rarities

Two species round out Texas's official list of nineteen — both real, accepted records, but genuinely rare enough that most Texans will never see one.

Amethyst-throated Mountain-gemRare Visitor

Texas's newest and rarest confirmed hummingbird, with a single accepted record — a male photographed at a Davis Mountains feeder in October 2016, the first confirmed U.S. record of the species anywhere. The eBird data matches the official record exactly: one single week of real signal, nothing before or since. This is a genuine, if extremely thin, possibility rather than a species with zero modern trace — worth knowing about, but not worth expecting.

Quick ID: Adult males show a dark facial mask set off by a whitish eye-stripe, dusky gray underparts, and the namesake amethyst gorget — a rosy-pink throat patch that can look almost black in shade but glows vivid purple in direct light. Females are similar in size and shape but lack the fully developed throat color. Both sexes show a blackish tail with pale gray corners and a medium-length straight black bill.

Green-breasted MangoHistoric

A genuine Rio Grande Valley tropical stray with 25 accepted Texas Bird Records Committee records — a real, documented species, but one with zero detectable signal anywhere in a full decade of eBird data, which is what earns it the "Historic Sighting Only" label rather than plain "Rare." Unlike the Big Bend specialties above, Mango records cluster in South Texas, not the mountains, reflecting its normal range in Mexico and Central America rather than the desert Southwest.

Quick ID: A large, distinctive hummingbird with a curved bill and a reddish-purple tail. Adult males look dark at a distance but show deep green plumage with a black stripe running down the throat and belly, bordered by glittering lime and teal. Females and immatures look strikingly different: white underparts with a dark central stripe, and outer tail feathers banded in magenta and dark blue with narrow white tips.

Texas Hummingbirds at a Glance

Statewide eBird data, 2016–2025 (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Also documented but too rare to chart reliably: Allen's, Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem, Berylline, Blue-throated Mountain-gem, Broad-billed, Costa's, Mexican Violetear, Violet-crowned, and White-eared Hummingbird.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many species of hummingbirds are in Texas?

Nineteen species are accepted on the official Texas Bird Records Committee state checklist — the most of any U.S. state, with Arizona a close second at eighteen. Six of those are genuine year-round residents; most sightings statewide will be one of three, Ruby-throated, Black-chinned, or Buff-bellied.

Are there hummingbirds in Texas year-round?

Yes, and more broadly than you might expect. Ruby-throated, Black-chinned, Buff-bellied, Broad-billed, Broad-tailed, and Anna's all show a real, meaningful presence in every month of the year, including December and January. Ruby-throated and Black-chinned specifically are genuinely present statewide all year, not just in the Rio Grande Valley as sometimes described.

What hummingbirds are in Texas in winter?

All six year-round residents are present, plus real winter visitors: Rufous, Costa's, Calliope, Allen's, and Berylline all show genuine winter or late-fall patterns without nesting in Texas.

What is the rarest hummingbird in Texas?

Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem, with a single accepted record — a male at a Davis Mountains feeder in October 2016, the first confirmed U.S. record of the species anywhere. Green-breasted Mango is rarer still in a different sense: 25 accepted records historically, but zero detectable signal in a full decade of modern eBird data.

How do I tell Ruby-throated and Black-chinned Hummingbirds apart?

Adult males are the easy case: Ruby-throated shows a red gorget, Black-chinned shows a black throat with a thin purple band at the base. Females of the two species are not reliably distinguishable in the field — anywhere either species overlaps, either is a reasonable guess without a very close look.

Why We Created This

Pop's Birding has been helping hummingbird lovers for three generations. One of the questions our customers ask most often is "What hummingbirds are actually in Texas?" — we built this species guide to give a direct, sourced answer, not a generic one. Texas has the longest official hummingbird list of any U.S. state, but the number alone doesn't answer the real question people have: is this bird actually going to be here in December, or does it just pass through? Those are genuinely different questions, and Texas's own data shows real, different answers for different species — Ruby-throated and Black-chinned, for instance, are both far more consistently present than a simple "spring and fall migrant" label suggests.

How We Created This

Every classification on this page comes from eBird checklist data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), pulled statewide, covering 2016 through 2025, sorted by actual seasonal pattern rather than raw sighting frequency alone: a Breeding tier for species with a sustained spring-through-fall cluster but no real winter presence, a Year-Round Resident tier requiring real signal in at least two distinct December/January weeks, a Migrant/Winter Visitor tier for real but non-breeding patterns, and Rare for species without a repeatable multi-week cluster anywhere in the year.

We checked every species against whether it's a known non-breeder in Texas specifically, not just against the raw data shape. Rufous shows an extremely strong signal — one of the largest in the dataset — but Rufous doesn't breed in Texas; it's classified as a genuine Migrant/Winter Visitor here despite the strong numbers, because breeding range and presence are different questions. The same check applies to Costa's and Calliope.

Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem and Green-breasted Mango were checked against a specific test: does the species have any real eBird signal, even a single thin week? Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem does — one real week, matching the Texas Bird Records Committee's own single accepted record exactly — so it's labeled plain Rare, a live if extremely unlikely possibility. Green-breasted Mango has zero signal anywhere in the full decade of data despite 25 accepted committee records, which is what earns it the "Historic Sighting Only" label instead — a real, documented species, just one a reader genuinely won't encounter today.

For exact week-by-week arrival and departure timing by region, see the methodology behind our Texas hummingbird calendar — that page is built the same way, from the same underlying data, but it's where the regional detail actually lives.

Sources

• Texas Bird Records Committee, official state checklist (updated June 7, 2026). Source for the state's official all-time species count and review-species record totals.
• eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Texas statewide, 2016–2025. Source for the weekly presence patterns behind every tier classification on this page.