Jul 26, 2026
Louisiana Hummingbird Season: A Month-by-Month Calendar
Timing derived from eBird data, 2016–2025
Free download
The whole year on one page
Arrival and departure windows by parish, the late-March turning point, and when Louisiana’s winter hummingbirds show up — printed small enough to tape inside the shed door.
Download the Louisiana hummingbird calendarOne page · PDF · free to print and share
Louisiana's Hummingbird Season at a Glance
One species nests in Louisiana, and it dominates from spring through fall — Ruby-throated turns up on nearly half of all bird lists at its September peak.
How often each species turns up on eBird checklists, week by week — statewide, 2016–2025.
Louisiana's winter visitors are unusually strong for a Gulf state — four species clear 1% of checklists, and they arrive as the breeders leave.
How often each species turns up on eBird checklists, week by week — statewide, 2016–2025.
Louisiana runs a genuinely unusual hummingbird calendar. One species breeds here and clears out every winter; a second species shows up only in winter and is gone by spring; and unlike a lot of states, the Gulf Coast doesn't get a real head start on the rest of the state. Here's how the year actually unfolds, parish by parish.
Regional Arrival Snapshot
Windows derived from eBird bar chart data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), 2016–2025, for Plaquemines, Orleans, East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, and Caddo parishes. "Reliably common" is defined as the first week each parish's Ruby-throated reports reach 25% of that parish's seasonal peak. Northwest Louisiana is less heavily birded than the Baton Rouge–New Orleans corridor, so its lower Rufous numbers are partly a coverage effect, not purely a lower true abundance.
January: Winter Specialists in Full Swing
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are absent for the season. Rufous Hummingbirds — Louisiana's most reliable winter species — are well established, especially in the Baton Rouge–Lafayette–New Orleans corridor, and Buff-bellied Hummingbirds continue showing up in coastal and southern parishes. If you kept a feeder up through fall, this is the payoff month.
February: Still Winter, With the First Hints of Spring
Winter visitors are still going strong through most of the month — Rufous and Buff-bellied remain the two to watch for, concentrated in the same Baton Rouge–Lafayette–New Orleans corridor. Late in February, the first Ruby-throateds of spring can start to trickle in, though these are thin, scattered records rather than a reliable presence.
March: The Turning Point
Scattered early Ruby-throateds continue arriving through the first three weeks — a handful here and there, plus any birds that never left. This is the period some sources call "arrival," but our own parish-level data shows these are thin, scattered records, not yet a reliable population. The real turning point is the last week of March, when the species becomes reliably common across most of the state — Shreveport, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and West Feliciana all cross that threshold within about a week of each other. The Gulf Coast is the exception: Plaquemines Parish doesn't reach the same threshold until the second week of April. By the final week of March, feeders should be up statewide if they aren't already.
April: The Gulf Coast Catches Up
Plaquemines Parish, on the Gulf Coast, reaches reliably-common Ruby-throated numbers here — about two weeks behind the rest of the state. Nesting season begins.
May: Full Nesting Swing
Louisiana's breeding Ruby-throateds are settled in and nesting statewide. Feeder activity can ease off somewhat as females become secretive around the nest, though it never goes fully quiet the way it does farther north.
Why nesting season is the demanding one
There's a wrinkle specific to hummingbirds. Most female birds build up a temporary calcium store in their bones, called medullary bone, and draw on it to make eggshell. Hummingbirds have very little of it, so a laying female has less in reserve. Researchers have seen nesting females eating wood ash and other mineral-rich materials, which they think helps replace the calcium that goes into eggs. In one 1994 study, every bird seen eating ash was a female tending a nest.
It's part of why Pop's Nectar includes calcium and electrolytes rather than sugar alone. Nesting females need extra calcium during egg-laying, and plain sugar water has essentially none. Read more on the research behind it.
Shop Nectarlyte® 8 oz →June: Nesting Continues
Feeder traffic can dip further as breeding females stay close to the nest, but Ruby-throateds remain present throughout the state. Louisiana's Gulf Coast humidity also means ants and bees start crowding feeders in earnest by now.
Keep pests off without pesticides — hummingbirds rely on small insects for protein, so spraying near a feeder can cost them a food source, not just protect one.
AspenPerch®'s built-in ant moat blocks ants with a water barrier, and HummGuard® Nectar Tips keep bees and wasps out without changing anything for the birds.
July: Nesting Wraps Up, and the First Southbound Movement Begins
Nesting continues through most of the month. In the final week, breeding Ruby-throateds start moving south, and the first Rufous Hummingbirds of the season begin arriving from the west — Louisiana's overlap week, with the tail end of one season and the start of another happening almost at once.
August: Southbound Migration Underway
Breeding Ruby-throateds are moving out, and the first winter Rufous are moving in.
September: The Statewide Peak
Ruby-throated turns up on nearly half of all bird checklists in mid-September — the single busiest point of the year, statewide.
This is the month to be generous, not economical.
Birds fueling for a long flight need feeders topped up more often — the large 2lb Nectarlyte® powder or the Nectarade® liquid concentrate keeps you from running out mid-surge.
October: Most Breeders Gone, the Winter Wave Underway
Most Ruby-throateds are gone by late October, with reports down to about an eighth of the September peak by month's end. The winter wave — chiefly Rufous, with Buff-bellied close behind — is well underway by this point.
This is the planting month.
Sow now and native wildflowers get the cold, moist period most varieties need to bloom reliably next spring.
Shop the Perfect Little Sanctuary® blend →November: Winter Specialists Settle In
Ruby-throateds are gone for the season. Louisiana's winter specialists have settled into the Baton Rouge–Lafayette–New Orleans corridor. This is also when the scarcer regulars — Black-chinned and Calliope, both of which clear 1% of winter checklists, plus Allen's, Broad-tailed, and Broad-billed in smaller numbers — and genuine rarities like Anna's (just two accepted Louisiana records) or an occasional Rivoli's are most likely to turn up.
Seeing one bird chase everyone else off?
That's usually a resident Rufous claiming both the feeder and a nearby swing as its own guarded winter territory. A second feeder and a second swing, spaced out of sight of each other, gives another bird — a displaced resident or one of the scarcer regulars passing through — its own station to guard instead of fighting over one.
Shop a second swing →December: Peak Winter Season
Winter specialists remain fully established — Rufous above all, Buff-bellied close behind. If you see a hummingbird in your yard this month, it's worth a closer look and a photo; December is prime season for the scarcer regulars and rarities noted above.
Pop's tip: Louisiana doesn't really have a "hummingbird season" and an off-season — it has two overlapping populations on two different calendars. Keep a feeder up year-round if you want a shot at both. Our winter hummingbird feeder care guide covers heated feeders and the two-feeder swap.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do hummingbirds come back to Louisiana?
Scattered early arrivals turn up from late February, but Ruby-throated doesn't become reliably common until the last week of March across most of the state — Shreveport, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and West Feliciana all within a week of each other. The Gulf Coast is the exception, running a couple of weeks later.
When do hummingbirds leave Louisiana?
Breeding Ruby-throated start moving south in late July, and most are gone by late October — by the final week of the month reports are down to about an eighth of the September peak. The winter visitors arrive as they go.
Are there hummingbirds in Louisiana in winter?
Yes, and more than most states. Four species clear 1% of checklists statewide in winter — Rufous, Black-chinned, Buff-bellied and Calliope — with Rufous the most reliable by a wide margin. All four peak in January.
Where in Louisiana am I most likely to see a winter hummingbird?
The Baton Rouge–New Orleans corridor. East Baton Rouge alone records Rufous on over 10% of checklists at its winter peak and Black-chinned on nearly as many — rates that would count as common rather than rare in most states.
What month has the most hummingbirds in Louisiana?
September, statewide, when Ruby-throated peaks at about 46% of checklists. Winter is a genuine second season, but it's a different cast of species.
Why We Built This Calendar
Pop's Birding has been helping hummingbird lovers for three generations. One of the questions our customers ask most often is "When do hummingbirds arrive and leave my state?" — we built this calendar to give a direct, sourced answer, not a generic one. Most timing advice online gives a single date for an entire state, which is exactly wrong for a place like Louisiana: East Baton Rouge, Orleans, Caddo, and West Feliciana all become reliably common in the last week of March, while the Gulf Coast itself, Plaquemines Parish, doesn't catch up until the second week of April — the opposite of what most people would expect from a coastal Gulf state. We wanted a calendar that tells you the truth for where you actually live, not an average built around an assumption that turns out to be backwards.
How We Built This Calendar
We pulled eBird bar chart data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), 2016–2025, for Louisiana statewide and five parishes: Plaquemines (Gulf Coast), Orleans (New Orleans), East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, and Caddo (Shreveport). "Reliably common" means the first week a parish's Ruby-throated reports reach 25% of its own seasonal peak. The genuine finding: Plaquemines, right on the Gulf Coast, is the last parish to catch up, about two weeks behind the rest of the state, the reverse of the head start coastal counties usually show. Northwest Louisiana's thinner winter Rufous numbers partly reflect lighter birding coverage there. The parish comparison is our own analysis of the raw eBird data.
Sources
We pulled eBird bar chart data for Louisiana statewide and for five parishes — Plaquemines (Gulf Coast), Orleans (New Orleans), East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, and Caddo (Shreveport) — covering 2016 through 2025, and read the seasonal shape and regional pattern directly off the reporting rates ourselves. Percentages describe how often a species appears on birdwatchers' submitted checklists — a measure of how likely you are to encounter one, not a population count.
- eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Louisiana statewide and parish-level (Plaquemines, Orleans, East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, Caddo), 2016–2025. Source for all month-by-month seasonal figures and the regional arrival/wintering pattern.
- Louisiana Ornithological Society — Ruby-throated Hummingbird & its "lookalikes". Source for statewide arrival window corroboration.
- Buff-bellied Hummingbird, All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Source for U.S. breeding range and Louisiana wintering status.
- Audubon Delta / Baton Rouge Audubon Society Winter Hummingbird Database (Erik Johnson) and Louisiana Christmas Bird Count records. Source for the Baton Rouge–Lafayette–New Orleans wintering-Rufous concentration.
- des Lauriers, J. R. (1994). Hummingbirds eating ashes. The Auk, 111(3), 755–756. Documents five nesting female hummingbirds eating wood ash; no males were seen doing so in that study.
- Adam, M. D., & des Lauriers, J. R. (1998). Observations of hummingbirds ingesting mineral-rich compounds. Journal of Field Ornithology, 69, 257–261. Source for hummingbirds' greatly reduced medullary bone and for the mineral-rich materials they eat.
- Werning, S. (2018). Medullary bone is phylogenetically widespread and its skeletal distribution varies by taxon. Journal of Ornithology, 159, 527–543. Source for medullary bone being confirmed in hummingbirds.
Event dates and formats change from year to year. Check organizer websites before making plans.
Know before they arrive
You don't have to keep this calendar taped to the fridge. Insider Birding Access members get seasonal notes timed to your region — when to have feeders out, what the birds are doing right now, and what's worth doing in your yard this season. We take the guesswork out of the calendar. Joining takes about thirty seconds, and there's 10% off your first order in it.
Join Insider Birding Access →Free to join. 10% off your first order.
Shop Louisiana's Hummingbird Favorites
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.
