Six hummingbird species have been accepted to the official Massachusetts state list, but the arithmetic is stark: one of them nests here, and the other five have managed about seventy-five records between them in the state's entire recorded history. That gap is exactly what makes identification in Massachusetts straightforward most of the year — and genuinely interesting the moment something shows up in November.

For feeder setup, native plants, and pest-safe care, see our how-to-attract guide. For exact arrival and departure windows by region, see the Massachusetts hummingbird calendar.

Species grouped by frequency of sightings and accepted state records.

The Hummingbird You're Most Likely to See

Ruby-throated Hummingbird — the only breeder

The only hummingbird that breeds in Massachusetts — and the only one that breeds regularly anywhere in the eastern United States. Mass Audubon calls it the state's smallest breeding bird. In practice, if you see a hummingbird in Massachusetts between May and September, this is what it is.

The female does everything alone: builds a walnut-sized nest of plant down and lichen bound with spider silk, incubates two pea-sized eggs for around two weeks, and feeds the young for another three. In New England's shorter season she'll usually manage one brood, occasionally two — unlike the two or three that are routine in the Deep South.

Quick ID: Males have a ruby-red gorget that looks flat black until light hits it head-on. Females and young have plain whitish throats, sometimes with faint spotting, and young males often show fine dark streaking or a few scattered red flecks by late summer. Between May and September it's effectively the only hummingbird in the state, so a summer bird needs no second guessing.

When to expect the most activity: Statewide numbers peak in the last week of August — earlier than in the southern states, simply because New England birds have farther to travel before winter. See the Massachusetts hummingbird calendar for the full week-by-week curve.

Massachusetts's Fall and Winter Visitor

Ruby-throated does not overwinter in Massachusetts — but that doesn't mean every hummingbird disappears when it leaves. One western species turns up here reliably, and its timing runs opposite to what most people expect.

Rufous Hummingbird — the winter visitor

The most frequent vagrant by a wide margin — around fifty accepted Massachusetts records, more than all the other rarities combined. But the timing is the opposite of what most people expect. Rufous turn up here in late fall and winter, not spring, with records running from late July through the following March. Several have overwintered: one spent December through late March in South Orleans, another pair stayed in Orleans from January into March.

Quick ID: Adult males are unmistakable coppery orange. Females and young are green-backed with rufous-washed flanks, rufous at the base of the tail, and a few red flecks at the throat — and cannot be reliably separated from Allen's Hummingbird in the field. The Massachusetts Avian Records Committee is explicit that any Selasphorus hummingbird should be banded and measured if possible, since even excellent photographs often can't settle it.

Rufous vs. Allen's: Massachusetts's Hardest Identification Call

This is the identification problem the guide doesn't have room for, and it's worth understanding before you look at the rarities below — because Rufous and Allen's account for most of Massachusetts's genuine vagrant confusion. Adult male Allen's shows a bronze-green back against a coppery tail, eye patch, and belly, while adult male Rufous is typically solid copper overall — but a meaningful minority of male Rufous also show green backs, which wipes out that shortcut entirely. Females and immatures of both species are close to identical by eye.

The only field mark ornithologists consider reliable is tail feather shape, and even that usually requires a bird in the hand or a very sharp photo of a fanned tail: Allen's has narrower tail feathers throughout, most noticeably the outer three, while Rufous shows a distinct notch or "pinch" at the tip of the second tail feather from center (R2) — a mark documented by hummingbird bander Sheri Williamson and used as the banding-guide standard. It's exactly why the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee requires banding and measurement for Selasphorus submissions rather than accepting field photos alone.

Massachusetts's Four Other Rarities

Beyond Rufous, four more species round out the state list — each a real, documented record with its own identification story.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Nine accepted records, clustered from late October to mid-December and concentrated almost entirely on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. Adult males show a velvety black throat edged with a thin band of iridescent purple, visible only at the right angle — from most angles the throat simply reads as black. A small white spot behind the eye is a useful mark even at a distance. Females have a plain, pale throat and are not reliably separable from female Ruby-throated by sight; one behavioral tell is that Black-chinned tend to pump and fan their tails almost constantly while hovering, a habit Ruby-throated doesn't share as consistently.

Allen's Hummingbird

Six accepted records — a surprisingly high count for a species whose entire breeding range is a narrow strip of California and southern Oregon coastline, which is exactly why the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee treats every submission as a banding case rather than a field call. See the tail-feather identification detail above; by eye alone, an Allen's in Massachusetts is essentially a guess.

Calliope Hummingbird

Seven accepted records, mostly late October through December. Calliope is North America's smallest bird, and its identification is actually more straightforward than Rufous or Allen's: adult males show a gorget of separate magenta streaks radiating outward against a white throat, rather than a solid iridescent patch — unlike anything else on Massachusetts's list. Females and immatures are green above with a peachy wash below and fine dark stippling on the throat.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

A single record: one adult male in Dennis, from late August to early December 2008, banded there by one of the state's few licensed hummingbird banders. This one required no tail-feather forensics — a bright red bill tipped in black, paired with a shimmering blue throat and rich green body, has nothing else in North America to be confused with. It remains the most visually unmistakable rarity Massachusetts has ever recorded, which is part of why the three-and-a-half-month stay became local news.

If you spot a hummingbird out of season — especially in late fall or winter — or one that doesn't look like a standard Ruby-throated, log it on eBird Massachusetts and notify a local birding group. Nearly every Massachusetts rarity record began with someone noticing something odd at a backyard feeder in November. Our Massachusetts hummingbird calendar covers exactly when to watch for them.

Where in Massachusetts Are Hummingbirds Most Common?

The Berkshire highlands hold the state's highest concentration of nesting hummingbirds — 76% of surveyed blocks in Mass Audubon's most recent Breeding Bird Atlas, the highest of any ecoregion in the state — and Cape Cod and the Islands are among the lowest, at roughly a third. That reverses in late fall: the Cape and Islands produce a wildly disproportionate share of the state's rarest records — Black-chinned from the desert Southwest, Allen's from the Pacific coast, and in 2008 a single Broad-billed Hummingbird that spent three and a half months in a Dennis garden before anyone could quite believe it.

Massachusetts Hummingbirds at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

How many species of hummingbirds are in Massachusetts?

Six species have been accepted to the official state list. Only Ruby-throated breeds here; the other five — Rufous, Black-chinned, Calliope, Allen's, and Broad-billed — are rarities that together have logged roughly 75 records in the state's entire recorded history.

Are there hummingbirds in Massachusetts in winter?

Ruby-throated does not overwinter, but Rufous Hummingbird does turn up reliably in late fall and winter, with records running from late July through the following March and several birds documented overwintering on Cape Cod. Any hummingbird seen in Massachusetts after October is far more likely to be a rarity than a lingering Ruby-throated.

Where are Massachusetts's rare hummingbirds usually found?

Overwhelmingly on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard — the same areas that see the lowest density of nesting Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in summer. The pattern flips almost entirely by late fall, when the Cape and Islands produce a disproportionate share of the state's rarest records.

How do I tell Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds apart in Massachusetts?

In the field, often you can't. The only reliable mark is tail feather shape — Allen's has narrower tail feathers throughout, while Rufous shows a distinct notch at the tip of the second tail feather from center (R2) — and that usually requires a bird in the hand or a sharp photo of a fanned tail to check. It's why the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee requires banding and measurement for any Selasphorus hummingbird reported in the state rather than accepting field photos alone.

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 Massachusetts, most answers online stop at "Ruby-throated, plus the occasional rarity," without explaining just how genuinely difficult some of those rarities are to identify, or where in the state they actually turn up. We built this page to give a direct, sourced answer: the complete, officially documented list, with real identification detail for every species — including an honest account of where field ID simply isn't reliable, rather than pretending every hummingbird can be confidently named from a photo.

How We Created This

We cross-checked Massachusetts's species list and record counts against the state's own accepted records rather than relying on generic descriptions. The Rufous-versus-Allen's section in particular required going beyond a simple field guide summary: the only field mark ornithologists consider reliable — tail feather shape — usually requires a bird in hand or a very sharp photo of a fanned tail, which is why the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee requires banding and measurement for Selasphorus submissions rather than accepting field photos alone.

We also looked at where in the state each pattern actually plays out. Mass Audubon's own Breeding Bird Atlas data shows the Berkshires holding the highest concentration of nesting Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the state, while Cape Cod and the Islands — among the lowest for nesting birds — produce a disproportionate share of the state's rarest fall records instead. That's a genuine geographic reversal, not a coincidence, and connecting those two data points is original analysis on our part rather than a rewrite of any single source.

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