Sep 12, 2026
New Hampshire Hummingbird Season: A Month-by-Month Calendar
New Hampshire's hummingbird season has one genuinely unusual feature: the whole state arrives together. eBird checklist data from 2016–2025 shows every tracked county — from the seacoast to the White Mountains — crossing the reliable-arrival threshold in the same week, the first week of May. That's not typical; most states with this much elevation range see a real staggered arrival, south to north. New Hampshire doesn't. Where the state does split is on the way out: Coos and Grafton counties, the two northernmost, empty out a full two weeks before the rest of the state.
The short version: Ruby-throated Hummingbird is New Hampshire's only breeding species, present statewide from early May through late September, peaking the third week of August at 29% of checklists. Rufous Hummingbird is a real, recurring rare visitor — the state's records committee reviews every report — most recently a bird that stayed at a Stoddard feeder into mid-December 2025. Two other species, Anna's and Calliope, have one accepted New Hampshire record each and nothing since.
New Hampshire Hummingbird Season: Quick Reference
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| When do they arrive? | First week of May, statewide — first scouts as early as the last week of April |
| When should feeders go up? | By late April, statewide |
| When do they nest? | June, after the spring arrival wave settles in |
| Busiest month? | August — 29% of checklists statewide in the third week, 31%+ in Hillsborough and Strafford |
| When do they leave? | Mid-September in Coos and Grafton; late September everywhere else |
| Anything in winter? | Only Rufous Hummingbird returns with any regularity — every report reviewed by the state's rare birds committee |
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County-by-county arrival windows, feeder up/down dates, and when to watch for Rufous — sized 8.5" x 11" for easy reference and printing.
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New Hampshire's Hummingbird Season at a Glance
One chart tells almost the whole New Hampshire story. Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the state's only species with a real, chartable season — Rufous, Anna's, and Calliope are all genuine, documented visitors, but too rare to plot a meaningful curve against Ruby-throated's dominant one, so a second normalized chart wouldn't add anything a shared scale doesn't already show clearly here.
The Counties Behind This Page
This calendar draws on ten years of eBird checklist data (2016–2025) from six New Hampshire counties chosen for genuinely different geography: Coos (Berlin, the North Country), Grafton (Plymouth, the White Mountains), Rockingham (Portsmouth, the seacoast), Hillsborough (Manchester, the Merrimack Valley), Strafford (Dover/Rochester), and Cheshire (Keene, the Monadnock region) — alongside statewide totals.
One thing worth knowing before you read this month by month: New Hampshire doesn't really have a staggered arrival. Most states this size see a real gap between their earliest and latest counties. Here, every county we track crosses into reliable presence in the same week — the first week of May. If you're reading this from anywhere in New Hampshire, "early May" is your answer, full stop. The real regional difference in this state shows up on the way out, not the way in — see September below.
January, February & March: The Quiet Season
No hummingbirds anywhere in New Hampshire. Zero checklists report Ruby-throated, Rufous, Anna's, or Calliope in any of the six tracked counties across all three months. Feeders can stay in storage.
April: The First Scouts
The first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds reach New Hampshire in the last week of April — a thin, real signal statewide, still well under 1% of checklists. This is genuinely early scouts, not the main wave.
Get your feeder up before the first bird arrives, not after.
New Hampshire's whole state arrives together within about two weeks, so there's no real "wait until my part of the state is due" — a feeder that goes out in mid-to-late April costs you nothing, and one still in the garage when the first scout turns up costs you the sighting. This is also the month to check last year's feeder for cracked seals and worn ports before the season depends on it. AspenPerch® has a built-in ant moat and a Polyperch® comfort perch, so birds rest between sips instead of hovering through the whole meal.
Shop AspenPerch® →May: Arrival Across the State
This is the real wave, and it lands everywhere at once. By the first week of May, all six tracked counties — from Rockingham on the coast to Coos in the North Country — have crossed into reliable presence. Frequency keeps climbing through the month, reaching a first, genuine local peak in most counties by the third week.
| County | Reliable Arrival |
|---|---|
| Coos | First week of May |
| Grafton | First week of May |
| Rockingham | First week of May |
| Hillsborough | First week of May |
| Strafford | First week of May |
| Cheshire | First week of May |
"Reliable arrival" means the first week each county's frequency clears 25% of that county's own peak and keeps climbing — not a single early sighting. Every county's May week 3 reading is backed by well over 200 effective checklists (frequency × sample size), not a handful of reports.
Rockingham is the one county where this month is the whole story. Every other tracked county peaks in August, but Rockingham's single highest reading of the year comes in May's third week — 20% of checklists, more than 600 effective checklists behind it. The seacoast sees more Ruby-throated activity during spring passage than it ever does at the height of summer, a pattern none of the interior counties share.
June: The Lull
Frequency drops back to 13–14% statewide as the spring wave settles into nesting. This is the quietest point of the actual breeding season, not a sign birds are leaving — it's when females are on the nest and males are less conspicuous.
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 →July: Building to the Peak
Frequency climbs steadily through July, from about 16% in the first week to over 20% by the last — fledglings joining the population and adults building toward the year's real high point.
August: The Peak
New Hampshire's hummingbird activity peaks in August, statewide — 29% of checklists in the third week, the highest reading of the year. Hillsborough and Strafford both top 31% the same week, the highest of any tracked county.
This is the month to be generous, not economical.
Birds fueling for a long flight south need feeders topped up more often — the large 2lb Nectarlyte® powder or the Nectarade® liquid concentrate keeps you from running out mid-surge.
September: The Exit — and New Hampshire's Real Regional Split
This is where New Hampshire's counties actually diverge, after arriving in lockstep back in May. Coos and Grafton — the two northernmost, highest-elevation counties — empty out first, gone by mid-September. Rockingham, Hillsborough, Strafford, and Cheshire hold on two weeks longer, into late September, with the statewide figure still at 24% in the first week before falling sharply.
| County | Leaves By |
|---|---|
| Coos | Mid-September |
| Grafton | Mid-September |
| Rockingham | Late September |
| Hillsborough | Late September |
| Strafford | Late September |
| Cheshire | Late September |
October, November & December: Stragglers and Rare-Bird Season
A few Ruby-throated stragglers turn up in October's first week before the state goes fully quiet for the species. From here through December, any hummingbird at a New Hampshire feeder is worth a second look — this is exactly the window New Hampshire's rare visitors have used. Rufous Hummingbird is the state's only recurring rare visitor — a New Hampshire Rare Birds Committee review species, meaning every report gets formally evaluated — and the most recent one stayed at a Stoddard, Cheshire County feeder into mid-December 2025. New Hampshire's two other documented rarities, Anna's Hummingbird and Calliope Hummingbird, each have exactly one accepted state record — both in this same October–November window, in 2020 and 2013 respectively — and nothing since.
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 →If you see a hummingbird at your feeder in November or December, keep the nectar from freezing, photograph it if you can, and report it — every winter record in New Hampshire gets reviewed.
The Year at a Glance
| Month | What's Happening |
|---|---|
| Jan–Mar | Nothing recorded anywhere in the state |
| April | First scouts, last week of the month |
| May | Arrival across the whole state, first week |
| June | The lull — nesting season |
| July | Climbing toward the peak |
| August | The peak — 29% statewide, 31%+ in Hillsborough & Strafford |
| September | Coos/Grafton empty by mid-month; the rest hold to late |
| October | A few stragglers, first week only |
| Nov–Dec | Rufous watch — the state's only recurring rare visitor |
Frequently Asked Questions
When do hummingbirds arrive in New Hampshire?
The first week of May, statewide — including Coos and Grafton in the north, which arrive on the same schedule as the seacoast and Merrimack Valley. First scouts can show up as early as the last week of April.
When do hummingbirds leave New Hampshire?
It depends where you are. Coos and Grafton counties, in the north, empty out by mid-September. Rockingham, Hillsborough, Strafford, and Cheshire hold on until late September.
When do hummingbirds leave the White Mountains and North Country?
Mid-September — about two weeks earlier than the rest of the state. Coos and Grafton counties are the first to go quiet every fall.
Do hummingbirds stay in New Hampshire year-round?
No. Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the state's only breeding species, migrates south every fall. The only species that turns up with any regularity in winter is Rufous Hummingbird, and even that is a genuine rarity reviewed case by case, not a resident population.
What's the busiest month for hummingbirds in New Hampshire?
August, statewide — checklists peak at 29% in the third week. Hillsborough and Strafford counties run even higher, both topping 31% the same week.
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, and for New Hampshire that assumption cuts the wrong way: it's tempting to assume a state spanning the seacoast to the White Mountains has a real spring lag, north to south, the way many similarly-shaped states do. New Hampshire's own data says otherwise on arrival — every county we track crosses into reliable presence the same week. Where the state genuinely does split is departure, which a single statewide date would also get wrong for a third of the state.
How We Built This Calendar
Every date on this page comes from eBird checklist data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), 2016–2025, for New Hampshire statewide and six counties chosen for real geographic spread: Coos (Berlin), Grafton (Plymouth), Rockingham (Portsmouth), Hillsborough (Manchester), Strafford (Dover/Rochester), and Cheshire (Keene). We checked each date against the raw checklist count behind it, not just the percentage. The county comparison, including the finding that every county arrives the same week but Coos and Grafton leave two weeks early, is our own analysis, not a repackaging of eBird's bar charts.
Sources
- eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — New Hampshire statewide and county-level (Coos, Grafton, Rockingham, Hillsborough, Strafford, Cheshire), 2016-2025. Source for all month-by-month seasonal figures and the regional arrival/departure pattern.
- New Hampshire Rare Birds Committee, Review List and the official State and Review List (Feb 2023 ed.). Source for official species status and the accepted-record dates behind every rarity named on this page — Rufous Hummingbird's recurring records including the Stoddard, Cheshire County bird (through mid-December 2025), and the single accepted records for Anna's Hummingbird (New London, 2020) and Calliope Hummingbird (Manchester, 2013).
- 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.
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 New Hampshire'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.
