Aug 22, 2026
Hummingbirds in New York: The Complete Guide to All 7 Species
New York's hummingbird records committee has confirmed five separate Calliope Hummingbird sightings since 2001 — spread across two decades and multiple counties, from Manhattan to Suffolk to Westchester — making it the state's single most-recorded hummingbird rarity. That's a genuinely different story than most states tell, where a lone western hummingbird shows up once and never again. New York has one common breeder, one regular fall visitor, and five documented rarities, two of them with real, recurring patterns rather than isolated events.
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All 7 species, one page
This page covers every hummingbird confirmed in New York, rarities included. The printable species guide is the practical companion — every species, its status, and how many records it has on file, sorted by how likely you are to actually see it.
Download the New York species guideOne page · PDF · free to print and share
All 7 documented New York hummingbird species, grouped by tier — cross-checked against the New York State Avian Records Committee's official database.
The Hummingbird You're Most Likely to See
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Breeds Here
New York'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 25.5% 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
New York's only breeder holds nesting territory statewide all summer. A stable perch gives it somewhere to watch from besides your feeder port — a place to hold territory before Rufous and the season's rarities start filtering through each fall.
Shop Charm Redwood Swing →New York's Regular Fall Visitor
Rufous Hummingbird Migrant/Winter
A fiery orange western species that turns up regularly enough each fall that it's treated as an expected, if uncommon, visitor rather than a genuine rarity. 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 Visitor
Rufous is famously aggressive at a feeder and will chase off anything else in the yard, regardless of size. A second station spread across the yard gives a lingering Ruby-throated or a passing rarity room of its own instead of one bird claiming the whole supply.
Shop AspenPerch Feeder →New York's Recurring Rarities
Two species show up often enough, across enough separate accepted records, that "rare" doesn't mean "once." Both remain genuine NYSARC review-list rarities requiring documentation every time.
Calliope Hummingbird Rare / Casual Visitor — New York's most-recorded rarity
Five accepted records across 21 years, New York's single most-recorded hummingbird rarity: New York County in December 2001 and again in November 2002, Westchester County in November 2004, Suffolk County in November-December 2016, and Suffolk County again in November 2022. A sixth reported sighting, from Essex County in 2007, was reviewed and not accepted. That's a genuine, spread-out recurring pattern rather than one bird's story told five times — the records span three different counties and two decades.
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 a peachy wash across the underparts and fine green stippling on the throat.
Anna's Hummingbird Rare / Casual Visitor
Three NYSARC-confirmed records, the most recent in 2017 — squarely within the range this page's eBird data actually covers. A genuine, if infrequent, recurring pattern rather than a single isolated sighting.
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
Calliope and Anna's are both genuinely recurring here, not one-time flukes — real electrolytes beyond plain sugar water give a documented rarity a reason to linger instead of just passing through.
Shop Nectarlyte® Powder →If You're Lucky: New York's Genuine One-Offs
Three more species have each been accepted by New York's records committee — real, documented, single- or two-time events rather than birds to expect.
Allen's Hummingbird Historic / Accidental
New York's only accepted record: a bird in Riverhead, Suffolk County, present from October 21, 2023 into early April 2024 — an unusually long stay for a species this far from its Pacific coast breeding range. Nothing has been recorded since.
Quick ID: Adult males show a coppery tail, eye patch, and belly against a bronze-green back, with a deep reddish-orange gorget. Females and immatures are extremely difficult to separate from female Rufous without a bird in hand.
Black-chinned Hummingbird Historic / Accidental
New York's only accepted record: a bird on Randall's Island, Manhattan, present November 15 through December 13, 2023. As NYSARC's own record notes state plainly, one record doesn't establish a pattern — nothing has been recorded since.
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.
Broad-billed Hummingbird Historic / Accidental
Two accepted records, both from 2006 — nothing recorded in the twenty years since. Two records that close together might look like the start of a pattern, but a two-decade gap with nothing following puts this squarely in Historic territory rather than a recurring rarity.
Quick ID: A vivid red bill tipped in black is diagnostic on both sexes; adult males add a shimmering blue throat and rich green body. Females are golden-green above and gray below, with a white line behind the eye.
Give Every Visitor a Reason to Stay
Whether it's your resident Ruby-throated or a genuine one-off like Allen's or Black-chinned, real nectar sources give any visitor, common or rare, more reason to stick around your yard.
Shop Wildflower Seed →New York Hummingbirds at a Glance
Ruby-throated's dominance here isn't a close call — statewide eBird frequency peaks near 25.5%, and every other confirmed species stays well under 1% at true statewide scale, including Rufous at its own peak of just over half a percent. With a gap that wide, a bar chart wouldn't show anything the numbers below don't already say plainly, so this section skips straight to the table.
| Species | New York Records | Best Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Ruby-throated | Only breeder; nearly every sighting | May through September, statewide |
| Rufous | Regular fall visitor, statewide peak ~0.53% | Fall, especially October–November |
| Calliope | 5 accepted records (2001-2022), New York's most-recorded rarity | Not expected — but genuinely recurring |
| Anna's | 3 confirmed records, most recent 2017 | Not expected — but genuinely recurring |
| Allen's | 1 accepted record (2023-24), New York's only | Not expected — genuine one-off |
| Black-chinned | 1 accepted record (2023), New York's only | Not expected — genuine one-off |
| Broad-billed | 2 accepted records, both 2006 | Not expected — genuine rarity, dated |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many species of hummingbirds are in New York?
Seven species have been documented in New York. Ruby-throated is the only breeder; Rufous is a regular fall visitor; Calliope and Anna's are both genuinely recurring rarities with multiple accepted records; and Allen's, Black-chinned, and Broad-billed are each single or twice-ever accidentals.
What is New York's most common rare hummingbird?
Calliope Hummingbird, with five accepted records since 2001 spanning three different counties — New York's single most-recorded hummingbird rarity. Anna's Hummingbird is close behind with three confirmed records.
Are there hummingbirds in New York in the fall?
Yes — Rufous Hummingbird is a real, regular fall visitor. Genuine rarities occasionally appear too, including a documented Allen's Hummingbird that stayed from October 2023 into early April 2024.
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.
For feeder setup, nectar ratios, and native plants that support these species, head back to our how-to-attract-hummingbirds-in-New-York guide. For region-by-region arrival and departure windows, see the New York 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 New York, most answers online stop at "Ruby-throated, plus the occasional rarity," without capturing that two of those rarities, Calliope and Anna's, actually show a real recurring pattern across decades. We built this page to give a direct, sourced answer: the complete, officially documented list, with an honest account of which rarities are genuinely recurring versus which are true one-offs.
How We Created This
We pulled eBird bar chart data for New York 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 a meaningful bar; Rufous sits just above half a percent at its statewide peak, and every other species measured well under that. Several rare species showed a much higher number in small local samples — Black-chinned appeared to reach nearly 6% and Broad-billed over 4% in samples of a few thousand checklists — but at genuine statewide scale, both drop to well under half a percent. We used the statewide figures, not the inflated local ones, and cross-checked every rare species against the New York State Avian Records Committee's own accepted-record database rather than relying on eBird frequency alone. That's also how we identified Calliope and Anna's as genuinely recurring rather than one-off: NYSARC's own records show multiple separate accepted sightings across different years and counties for both, a pattern eBird frequency alone wouldn't have surfaced clearly given how thin the underlying signal is.
Sources
- New York State Avian Records Committee, New York State Ornithological Association. Source for every rare species' accepted-record count, dates, and counties on this page.
- eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — New York statewide.
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 York'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.
