North Dakota Hummingbird Season: A Month-by-Month Calendar

Timing derived from eBird checklist data, 2016–2025, sourced September 2026.

North Dakota's hummingbird season is really one story, told at different speeds. Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the state's only regularly occurring species — every other bird on the state list is a documented rarity. Statewide, Ruby-throated arrives in mid-May, eases back during a June nesting lull, then builds through August to the year's real peak — about one in six checklists — before clearing out by late September. Fargo (Cass County) follows a similar shape; Bismarck (Burleigh County) runs the same two waves later and thinner, with its spring and fall builds separated clearly enough to count as two distinct passages; and Dickinson (Stark County), in the state's dry western third, sees almost nothing until a real, brief passage arrives in late August.

The short answer: put feeders up by early May. Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrives statewide and in Fargo in mid-May (Bismarck about two weeks later, in late May), peaks in the last week of August on about one in six checklists, and leaves North Dakota by late September (Bismarck and Dickinson clear about two weeks sooner, by mid-September). Everything else on the state list is a genuine rarity.

Quick Answers

North Dakota Hummingbirds at a Glance

North Dakota's Ruby-throated season has two real high points, not one. Statewide, sightings climb quickly in mid-May to just over one in twenty-five checklists, ease back to one in fifty or fewer through June and early July as females incubate, then build through August to the year's peak of about one in six in the last week of the month — nearly four times the spring high. By late September the season is essentially over.

How often Ruby-throated turns up on eBird checklists, week by week, statewide, 2016–2025. It's the only hummingbird with enough North Dakota sightings to chart. Rufous Hummingbird is the one western hummingbird that turns up with any regularity, mostly in late summer and fall. Calliope, Anna's, Black-chinned and Broad-tailed are true rarities that the North Dakota Bird Records Committee still reviews, too rare to chart.

The Regions on This Page

January – April: The Quiet Season

There are no Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in North Dakota through the winter and into spring. The first real signal of the year doesn't appear until the second week of May, so January through April stay essentially empty across all three regions on this page.

Get your feeder up before the season starts, not after.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird's first North Dakota arrivals show up in the second week of May, so a feeder out by early May costs nothing — one still in storage when the first bird arrives 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.

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May: The Spring Arrival

Ruby-throated arrives fast in the second week of May, jumping from almost nothing to about one in eighty statewide checklists, then to more than one in twenty-five by the third and fourth weeks. Fargo leads the way: Cass County reaches about one in nine checklists by the fourth week of May, more than double the statewide rate. Bismarck runs well behind — Burleigh County barely reaches one in fifty by the end of the month — and Dickinson sees nothing at all yet.

*Stark County's Ruby-throateds don't have a spring arrival at all — the region's only real signal is a short late-August-to-mid-September passage, described in August below.

June: Nesting Season

Statewide numbers ease back by about half in June, from a spring high of just over one in twenty-five checklists down to roughly one in fifty, as females settle in to incubate. Fargo follows the same pattern — Cass County eases from about one in nine checklists to between one in twenty-five and one in fourteen. Bismarck, already thin in spring, drops further still.

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: The Rebuild Begins

Statewide numbers inch back up through July, from about one in seventy checklists to one in forty by the last week, as young birds fledge and join the season's second push.

Keep pests off without pesticides.

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.

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August: The Real Peak

August is North Dakota's busiest month by a wide margin. Statewide, Ruby-throated climbs from about one in twenty-five checklists in the first week to the year's peak of about one in six in the last week — nearly four times the spring high. Fargo follows closely, peaking at a little under one in six the same week. Bismarck peaks lower, at about one in nine. This is also the only month Dickinson sees real activity at all: Stark County's fall passage opens in the third week of August and reaches its own peak the following week at about one in five checklists — the highest single weekly rate recorded anywhere in this dataset — before fading fast through September.

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.

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Shop Nectarade® Liquid 50.7 oz →

September & October: When Hummingbirds Leave North Dakota

The exit is fast. Statewide, sightings fall from about one in nine checklists in the first week of September to about one in sixty by the last, and Ruby-throated leaves North Dakota by late September. Fargo holds on about as long, still turning up on about one in twenty checklists in the last week of September. Bismarck and Dickinson clear about two weeks sooner, both essentially empty by mid-September.

*Stark County's departure date rests on the same thin, real signal as its arrival — see "The Regions on This Page" above.

What to do: Leave feeders up until two weeks after your last sighting, which for most of North Dakota means early-to-mid October. The late birds still moving through are the ones that need a full feeder most.

This is the planting month.

North Dakota's last Ruby-throateds are gone by late September, which makes October the time to sow. Native wildflower seed needs the cold, moist winter most varieties require to bloom reliably next spring.

Shop the Perfect Little Sanctuary® blend →

November & December: The Quiet Season Returns

By November, North Dakota's hummingbirds are gone again. The one exception in recent memory came in 2022, when the state's only Anna's Hummingbird record persisted from October into November in Bismarck.

What to do: If a hummingbird somehow shows up this late, keep the nectar from freezing — bring the feeder in overnight and hang it back out at first light — and photograph the bird. A clear photo is what confirms a record like this for the state's records committee.

The Year at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

When do hummingbirds arrive in North Dakota?

Statewide and in Fargo (Cass County), in the second week of May. Bismarck (Burleigh County) runs about two weeks behind, arriving in late May. Dickinson (Stark County), in the state's dry west, gets no real spring arrival at all — its only signal is a short passage in late August.

When do hummingbirds leave North Dakota?

By late September statewide and in Fargo. Bismarck and Dickinson clear about two weeks sooner, both essentially empty by mid-September.

When should I put my hummingbird feeder up in North Dakota?

By early May, a week or two ahead of the first arrivals in the second week of May.

When should I take my hummingbird feeder down in North Dakota?

Two weeks after your last sighting, which for most of the state means early-to-mid October. North Dakota's hummingbirds are gone by then in an ordinary year regardless, so leaving a feeder up costs nothing.

What is the best time to see hummingbirds in North Dakota?

Late August, when Ruby-throated peaks at about one in six checklists statewide — nearly four times the spring high. That's also the only stretch of the year Dickinson sees real activity, when Stark County's brief fall passage reaches its own peak of nearly one in five checklists.

Are there hummingbirds in North Dakota in winter?

Essentially never. Ruby-throated is gone by late September, and the state has no winter-resident species. The one exception on record is North Dakota's only Anna's Hummingbird, which lingered in Bismarck from October into November 2022 — a genuine one-time event, not a pattern.

Why We Built This Calendar

Pop's Birding has been helping hummingbird lovers for three generations, and "when do hummingbirds arrive in my state?" is one of the questions we hear most. North Dakota's answer is more interesting than a single date: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the state's only regular species, builds twice — once in a modest spring wave, then again in a much bigger fall surge — and Bismarck and the dry western part of the state run weeks behind Fargo the whole way. We built this calendar to show that real shape rather than flattening it into one statewide date, and to be honest about where a county's numbers are too thin to lean on.

How We Built This Calendar

Every date here comes from week-by-week eBird checklist data for 2016–2025, for North Dakota statewide plus Cass (Fargo), Burleigh (Bismarck) and Stark (Dickinson) counties. Species status was cross-checked against the North Dakota Bird Records Committee's Review List rather than inferred from frequency alone. We checked Bismarck's two separate passages against the weekly numbers before describing them that way, and we flag Stark County's late-August passage as real but thin. The east-to-west spread is our own analysis, not a restatement of eBird's bar charts.

Sources

• eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — North Dakota statewide, Cass, Burleigh and Stark counties, 2016–2025.
• Review List, North Dakota Bird Records Committee, North Dakota Birding Society — species status, including which rarities the committee still reviews.
• Robert E. Stewart, Breeding Birds of North Dakota (1975), Tri-College Center for Environmental Studies — regional breeding status (Turtle Mountains, Pembina Hills, Red River Valley).
• Paul A. Johnsgard, Birds of the Great Plains, University of Nebraska Press — regional breeding range.
• Checklist of North Dakota Birds (2016), North Dakota Game and Fish Department — confirms Ruby-throated as the state's only regularly occurring hummingbird.
• 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.