Hummingbirds in Indiana: The Complete Guide to All 6 Species

In October 2006, a hummingbird with a velvety black throat turned up at a feeder in Gibson County, Indiana — the only Black-chinned Hummingbird the state's records committee has ever accepted. Two more reported sightings, in 1997 and 2018, were reviewed and rejected, leaving that single 2006 bird as Indiana's entire confirmed record of the species. That's the shape of Indiana's hummingbird year: one common, reliable breeder, one regular fall visitor, and four genuine rarities, most of them thin, single-record events.

All 6 documented Indiana hummingbird species, grouped by tier — cross-checked against the Indiana Bird Records Committee's official checklist.

The Hummingbird You're Most Likely to See

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Breeds Here

Indiana's only breeding hummingbird, and the only hummingbird that breeds anywhere in eastern North America. It nests statewide, wherever there's a mix of trees and open space for feeding. Statewide checklist activity peaks near 39.6% in late summer, driven both by local breeders and by migrants from farther north passing through.

Quick ID: Adult males show a brilliant iridescent ruby-red throat that can look flat black until light hits it directly, paired with an emerald-green back. Females and immatures lack the red throat, showing a plain whitish throat and a rounded, white-tipped tail instead.

A Little Throne for Your Ruby-throated

Indiana's Ruby-throateds hold breeding territory all summer against nothing more than the occasional passing migrant — a perch nearby gives yours a place to rest and watch its patch without giving up the feeder.

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Indiana's Regular Fall Visitor

Rufous Hummingbird Migrant/Winter

A fiery orange western species that turns up regularly enough that documentation isn't required for every report. If a hummingbird shows up at your feeder in fall, there's a real chance it's this species rather than a lingering Ruby-throated.

Adult males are unmistakable — fiery coppery-orange overall with an iridescent orange-red throat — and famously aggressive, chasing off other hummingbirds regardless of size difference. Females and immatures are trickier: green-backed above, with rufous-washed flanks and a rusty patch at the base of the tail.

Quick ID: Adult males are almost entirely coppery-orange with a glowing orange-red throat, and the only largely rufous-backed hummingbird in North America; females and immatures are green-backed with rufous-washed flanks.

An Extra Feeder for Your Rufous

Rufous shows up as a genuine fall regular in Indiana, arriving right as your Ruby-throateds are heading south — a second feeder in a different spot means it isn't stuck competing for the same station your breeders held all summer.

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Indiana's Recurring Rarity

Anna's Hummingbird Rare / Casual Visitor

Two accepted records, eleven years apart: one in Howard County in 2009, the other in Lake County in 2020. A real, if thin, recurring pattern rather than a single isolated event — and the more recent record is only six years old as of this page's research, keeping the pattern genuinely current.

Quick ID: The only North American hummingbird with a fully colored crown as well as throat — males glow rose-pink from head to throat. Females show a central patch of rose-red spotting on an otherwise plain throat, with a stocky, broad-tailed build.

Make Your Sanctuary Worth a Detour

Anna's has turned up in Indiana twice now, over a decade apart — real nectar with electrolytes and calcium beyond plain sugar water gives a rarity like this an actual reason to stick around long enough to be seen.

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If You're Lucky: Indiana's Historic Rarities

Three more species have each been accepted by Indiana's records committee — real, documented, single-record events rather than birds to expect.

Black-chinned Hummingbird Historic / Accidental

Indiana's only accepted record: a bird in Gibson County, October 2006. Two other reported sightings — in 1997 and 2018 — were formally reviewed by the Indiana Bird Records Committee and not accepted, which further confirms this is a genuine single occurrence rather than an undercounted pattern.

Quick ID: Adult males show a velvety black throat with a thin band of iridescent purple visible only at the right angle — otherwise it reads as solid black. Females are essentially identical to female Ruby-throated except for longer wings that reach nearly to the tail tip.

Calliope Hummingbird Historic / Accidental

Indiana's only accepted record: a bird in Monroe County, 2012 — the state's first and, so far, only Calliope Hummingbird. Nothing has been recorded since.

Quick ID: North America's smallest breeding hummingbird, with a hunched posture and short tail. Males have a unique streaked, ray-like magenta throat unlike any other species' solid gorget. Females are tiny even by hummingbird standards, with very little rufous in the tail.

Mexican Violetear Historic / Accidental

A genuine Indiana record on the state's official checklist, though the exact date and county weren't independently located for this page. A species whose normal range runs from Mexico into Central America, genuinely far outside its expected territory in the Midwest.

Quick ID: Both sexes look essentially alike — an all-green hummingbird with a glittering violet patch across the ear coverts and upper chest, and a blackish band crossing the blue-green tail.

Give Every Visitor a Reason to Stay

A feeder brings hummingbirds in — what keeps them coming back, common visitor or once-in-a-lifetime rarity alike, is real nectar and a reason to linger. Perfect Little Sanctuary® Wildflower Seed packs 12 nectar-rich varieties into one packet for lasting habitat.

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Indiana Hummingbirds at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

How many species of hummingbirds are in Indiana?

Six species have been documented in Indiana. Ruby-throated is the only breeder, Rufous is a regular fall visitor, Anna's is a genuinely recurring rarity with two accepted records, and Black-chinned, Calliope, and Mexican Violetear are each single-record accidentals.

Are there hummingbirds in Indiana in the fall?

Yes — Rufous Hummingbird is a real, regular fall visitor, common enough that documentation isn't required for every report. Genuine rarities are less common but real, including Indiana's two accepted Anna's Hummingbird records.

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 violet-purple band at the base. Females and young are effectively inseparable in the field — wing-to-tail proportions on a perched bird are the most useful mark.

What is Indiana's only recurring hummingbird rarity?

Anna's Hummingbird — it has two accepted Indiana records, in 2009 and 2020, a real if thin recurring pattern. Every other Indiana hummingbird rarity (Black-chinned, Calliope, Mexican Violetear) has exactly one accepted record.

For feeder setup, nectar ratios, and native plants that support these species, head back to our how-to-attract-hummingbirds-in-Indiana guide. For region-by-region arrival and departure windows, see the Indiana hummingbird calendar.

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 my state?" — and for Indiana, most answers online stop at "Ruby-throated, plus the occasional stray," without naming the four other accepted species or explaining which represent a real recurring pattern versus a single documented sighting. We built this page to give a direct, sourced answer: the complete, officially documented list, with real identification detail for every species on it.

How We Created This

We pulled eBird bar chart data for Indiana statewide to establish which species show a real, measurable presence at genuine statewide scale — meaning large, representative sample sizes, not a handful of local checklists. Only Ruby-throated cleared that bar; every rare species peaked under half a percent once measured against a proper statewide sample, so no frequency chart appears on this page. One number is worth flagging directly: Black-chinned's raw peak looked as high as 9% in a small local sample, but that figure came from barely 500 checklists concentrated in a narrow window — at genuine statewide scale, the real number is under half a percent. We used the statewide figure, not the inflated local one, and cross-checked every rare species against Indiana's own records committee rather than eBird frequency alone.

Sources

• Indiana Bird Records Committee, Indiana Audubon Society. Source for every species' status and accepted-record history on this page.
• eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Indiana statewide.