Sep 16, 2026
Wyoming Hummingbird Season: A Month-by-Month Calendar
Timing derived from eBird checklist data, 2016–2025, sourced September 2026.
Wyoming's hummingbird season is really a story about three genuine breeders with three different personalities. Broad-tailed Hummingbird is the state's most widespread confirmed breeder, present in every region and dominant statewide from May into September. Calliope Hummingbird is a genuine global stronghold species here — Wyoming's own wildlife agency estimates roughly 3% of the entire world population nests in the state's mountain meadows — but its timing shifts dramatically by county. And Rufous Hummingbird is confirmed breeding at four specific sites — near Yellowstone, Cody, Jackson, and Green River — yet Wyoming's own wildlife agency is refreshingly honest that it's "uncertain" whether that's a regular pattern, since most sightings statewide likely represent fall migrants passing through rather than local nesters. A fourth species, Black-chinned Hummingbird, has a real but genuinely thin presence — "breeding suspected," not confirmed. Accepted records come from just 3 of the state's 28 survey blocks, and the only breeding evidence comes from the Green River area.
The short answer: put feeders up by late April. Broad-tailed Hummingbird arrives statewide in early May and stays into mid-September, turning up on nearly one checklist in ten for most of the summer. Calliope Hummingbird arrives late May statewide but reaches Jackson Hole (Teton County) far earlier and stronger than the rest of the state. Rufous Hummingbird doesn't show up in numbers until early July, peaking in early August before clearing out by early September. See The Regions on This Page below for how differently each county experiences this season.
Quick Answers
| Question | Wyoming answer |
|---|---|
| When do hummingbirds arrive? | Early May statewide (Broad-tailed); Jackson Hole's Calliope arrives even earlier, by mid-May |
| When should feeders go up? | By late April, ahead of the early-May arrival |
| When do they nest? | June, when Broad-tailed numbers hold steady but females are on nests |
| Busiest months? | June through early August — Broad-tailed turns up on nearly one checklist in ten statewide, and Rufous adds a big fall-passage spike in Fremont and Albany counties |
| When do hummingbirds leave Wyoming? | Mid-September for Broad-tailed statewide; Calliope and Rufous both clear out earlier, by late August and early September |
| Anything in winter? | No — every Wyoming hummingbird, including the rare visitors, is a spring-through-fall bird only |
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Wyoming's Hummingbird Season at a Glance
Three species show up on Wyoming's statewide chart, and each peaks at a different scale. Broad-tailed is the clear dominant species, climbing through May to a long summer plateau at nearly one checklist in ten, then touching its single highest week — one in ten — in the first week of August before falling off sharply through September. Rufous stays near zero through spring and early summer, then builds fast starting in July to its own peak in early August, when about one checklist in twelve reports one, before clearing out almost as quickly by early September. Calliope is the smallest of the three statewide, arriving in mid-to-late May and holding at about one checklist in fifty through most of the summer.
Two more species have accepted Wyoming records but are far too rare to chart: Anna's Hummingbird and Ruby-throated Hummingbird, with only a few records each. If you see either one, photograph it and report it to the Wyoming Bird Records Committee.
The Regions on This Page
Wyoming's hummingbird season looks genuinely different from county to county, so this page tracks its three most heavily birded counties:
Teton County (Jackson Hole). The northwest, in the shadow of the Tetons — Wyoming's strongest, earliest hummingbird activity.
Fremont County (Lander/Riverton). Central Wyoming, on the Wind River's eastern edge.
Albany County (Laramie). The southeast, Wyoming's highest-elevation major county.
One thing to know before you start: the map above tracks Calliope Hummingbird, not Broad-tailed — even though Broad-tailed is the more common bird statewide. That's deliberate: Broad-tailed arrives and leaves at almost the same time in every county we checked, so a map built around it would show nothing. Calliope's timing genuinely shifts by hundreds of miles and several weeks, which is exactly what a map is for. Notice, too, that the statewide Calliope label says "leaves by mid-August," while every mapped county's own label says "late August" — that gap is the statewide figure getting diluted by thinner coverage elsewhere in the state, not a sign the mapped counties are wrong. Lincoln County, in Wyoming's southwest corner, shows a similar pattern to Fremont's but on thinner data (a few dozen checklists a week) — real, but too thin to map with confidence.
January – April: The Quiet Season
Wyoming's hummingbirds are entirely absent through the winter and into early spring — every species sits at zero across every county through mid-April. The first faint statewide signal doesn't appear until the second half of April, and it stays very faint until May.
Get your feeder up before the season starts, not after.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird's first Wyoming arrivals show up in early May, so a feeder out by late April 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.
Shop AspenPerch® →May: The Spring Arrival
Broad-tailed arrives statewide in early May, climbing fast and ending the month close to its summer level. Jackson Hole (Teton County) runs well ahead of the state as a whole, with more than one checklist in seven reporting one by the end of the month — essentially its eventual summer plateau. Calliope arrives too, and just as dramatically faster in Teton, where it goes from almost none to about one checklist in sixteen within two weeks; statewide, Calliope stays scarce all month, at about one checklist in fifty at most. Fremont County's thin Black-chinned window also opens this month — a real but narrow signal into mid-June for a species Wyoming's own wildlife agency still classifies as only "breeding suspected," not confirmed, here.
| Region | May |
|---|---|
| Teton (Jackson Hole) | Broad-tailed and Calliope both surge fast, already near their eventual summer levels by month's end |
| Fremont (Lander) | Broad-tailed arrives steadily; Black-chinned's brief real window opens |
| Albany (Laramie) | Broad-tailed climbs through the month; nothing else established yet |
June: Nesting Season
Statewide, Broad-tailed settles into its long summer plateau, holding at nearly one checklist in ten through the month as females incubate. Teton's Broad-tailed is already at its own peak, at about one checklist in seven. Albany's Broad-tailed keeps climbing sharply through June, from about one checklist in eight to about one in five — the steepest June rise of any county. Fremont's Black-chinned window closes by mid-June, settling into its long, thin summer tail. Rufous is still essentially silent until the last week of the month, when the first birds stir in Teton and Fremont.
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: Rufous Begins Its Fall Push
Statewide, Rufous finally starts moving, more than doubling through the month. The regional split becomes visible right here: in Teton — one of the four sites where Rufous is a confirmed Wyoming breeder — the buildup is gradual, reaching its own mid-July peak at about one checklist in twenty, the shape of birds actually nesting locally. Fremont and Albany are just beginning a very different, much sharper climb toward an early-August spike more typical of migrants passing through than a local population. Albany's Calliope also opens its brief, late passage window this month — essentially zero before July, then building fast. Broad-tailed holds its summer plateau in every county, with Albany still running the highest numbers in the state, at more than one checklist in seven.
| Region | July |
|---|---|
| Teton (Jackson Hole) | Rufous near its own peak, on about one checklist in twenty; Broad-tailed and Calliope both holding steady |
| Fremont (Lander) | Rufous begins its sharp late climb toward an early-August peak |
| Albany (Laramie) | Broad-tailed peaks for the year, on more than one checklist in five; Rufous and Calliope both begin their late-summer climbs |
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.
Shop HummGuard® →August: The Statewide Peak
Statewide, this is Broad-tailed's single highest week of the year (one checklist in ten, in the first week of the month) and Rufous's peak too, at about one in twelve. Fremont and Albany both hit their dramatic Rufous spikes right here — nearly one checklist in four in Fremont and about one in five in Albany, both in the first week of August — before falling off through the rest of the month. That sudden, oversized spike, so much bigger and later than Teton's gradual summer-long build, is the shape of a fall migration wave passing through rather than a local nesting population — which matches Wyoming's own wildlife agency's caution that most of the state's Rufous sightings are migrants, not the handful of confirmed local breeders. Calliope peaks in Fremont and Albany this same week, at about one checklist in twenty to twenty-five, while Teton's Calliope has already passed its own early-July peak and is easing down. By the first week of September, Calliope has essentially cleared out of every mapped county.
| Region | August |
|---|---|
| Teton (Jackson Hole) | Broad-tailed still strong; Calliope and Rufous both easing down from earlier peaks |
| Fremont (Lander) | Rufous peaks sharply in the first week, on nearly one checklist in four, then falls fast; Calliope peaks the same week |
| Albany (Laramie) | Rufous peaks in the first week, on about one checklist in five; Broad-tailed still running the state's highest numbers |
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.
September & October: When Hummingbirds Leave Wyoming
The exit is fast and staggered by species. Calliope is gone from every county by early September, if not before. Rufous follows close behind, cleared out statewide by early September, with Fremont and Albany's fall spikes both fading to near-nothing by mid-September. Broad-tailed holds on longest, easing from its summer plateau through September before disappearing statewide by mid-September — Teton and Fremont both clear out by the third week of the month, while Albany holds on a little longer, with a trace of activity still visible in the third week.
What to do: Leave feeders up until two weeks after your last sighting, which for most of Wyoming means late September at the latest. The late-moving birds still passing through are the ones that need a full feeder most.
This is the planting month.
Wyoming's last hummingbirds are gone by mid-September, which makes the weeks that follow 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, every Wyoming hummingbird is gone for the year, and the state has no winter-resident species at all — not even the rare visitors described above, both of which are warm-season records only. The quiet stretch that opened this page in January returns and holds until the following spring.
The Year at a Glance
| Month | What's happening |
|---|---|
| January – April | Empty statewide; no real signal anywhere until late April |
| May | Broad-tailed and Calliope arrive; Jackson Hole surges far ahead of the rest of the state |
| June | Broad-tailed's summer plateau begins; nesting season statewide |
| July | Rufous begins building; Albany's Broad-tailed peaks for the year |
| August | Statewide peak — Broad-tailed and Rufous both hit their highest numbers, Fremont and Albany's Rufous spikes sharpest |
| September – October | Fast exit — Calliope first, then Rufous, then Broad-tailed by mid-September |
| November – December | Empty — no winter presence anywhere in the state |
Frequently Asked Questions
When do hummingbirds arrive in Wyoming?
Statewide, Broad-tailed Hummingbird arrives in early May. Jackson Hole (Teton County) runs well ahead of the rest of the state, with strong numbers already established by mid-May. Calliope Hummingbird arrives later almost everywhere except Teton, where it shows up alongside Broad-tailed.
When do hummingbirds leave Wyoming?
Broad-tailed leaves statewide by mid-September, the last of the three main species to go. Calliope and Rufous both clear out earlier, by late August and early September respectively.
When should I put my hummingbird feeder up in Wyoming?
By late April, a week or so ahead of Broad-tailed's early-May statewide arrival.
When should I take my hummingbird feeder down in Wyoming?
Two weeks after your last sighting, which for most of the state means late September at the latest. Wyoming's hummingbirds are gone by then in an ordinary year regardless, so leaving a feeder up costs nothing.
Does Rufous Hummingbird breed in Wyoming?
Confirmed breeding has been documented at four specific sites — near Yellowstone, Cody, Jackson, and Green River — but Wyoming's own wildlife agency is honest that it's uncertain whether this is a regular, annual pattern. Most Wyoming sightings, especially the sharp late-summer spikes seen in Fremont and Albany counties, likely represent fall migrants passing through rather than local nesters.
Are there hummingbirds in Wyoming in winter?
No. Every Wyoming hummingbird, including the state's two documented rarities (Anna's and Ruby-throated), is a spring-through-fall bird only. There is no winter-resident species anywhere in the state.
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. Wyoming's answer isn't a single date — it's three species with three genuinely different personalities: a widespread, reliable Broad-tailed season that looks similar everywhere; a Calliope population whose timing shifts by weeks depending on which county you're in; and a Rufous population that's confirmed breeding at specific sites while Wyoming's own wildlife agency openly questions whether that's a regular pattern statewide. We built this calendar to keep those distinctions intact rather than flattening Wyoming into one generic spring-to-fall window.
How We Built This Calendar
Every date on this page comes from eBird checklist data, 2016–2025, read week by week for Wyoming statewide and three counties: Teton (Jackson Hole), Fremont (Lander), and Albany (Laramie). Species and breeding status come from the official Wyoming State Bird List, a joint product of the Wyoming Bird Records Committee, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, rather than from how often a bird is reported. The regional map follows Calliope rather than Broad-tailed because Calliope's timing actually shifts between counties. Lincoln County was reviewed but left off the map and charts because its data is too thin for a confident finding.
Sources
- eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Wyoming statewide, Teton, Fremont and Albany counties, 2016–2025.
- Wyoming State Bird List, Wyoming Bird Records Committee / Wyoming Game and Fish Department — species status, breeding-confirmation level, and record history for every species on this page.
- Rufous Hummingbird Species Account, Wyoming Game and Fish Department — confirmed breeding sites and the agency's own caveat on breeding regularity.
- Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Western Hummingbird Partnership — core breeding range confirmation.
- Calliope Hummingbird Species Account, Wyoming Game and Fish Department — about 3% of the global population breeds in Wyoming.
- Black-chinned Hummingbird Species Account, Wyoming Game and Fish Department — accepted records in 3 of 28 survey blocks; breeding evidence only near Green River.
- 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 Wyoming'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.
