Pennsylvania's hummingbird checklist runs to seven species — one dependable breeder, one regular fall visitor, and five genuine rarities, two of which sit at the center of one of the hardest identification problems in North American birding. Pennsylvania is one of the few eastern states where a birder might genuinely need to separate Ruby-throated from Black-chinned, or wrestle with the notoriously difficult Rufous-versus-Allen's problem that even licensed banders sometimes can't resolve without the bird in hand.

This guide sorts out which hummingbird you're actually looking at, whether that's a backyard regular in July or a genuine long shot in November — including exactly where field identification breaks down and why. 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 Pennsylvania hummingbird calendar.

Species grouped by frequency of sightings, statewide eBird data, 2016–2025.

The Hummingbirds You're Most Likely to See

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Pennsylvania's only officially native hummingbird, and the only established breeding hummingbird anywhere east of the Great Plains. The Pennsylvania Game Commission confirms it breeds statewide, with males defending territories of about a quarter acre each.

Adult males show an emerald or golden-green back and crown over grayish-white underparts, with a brilliant iridescent ruby-red throat that can look flat black until the light catches it, and a dark, distinctly forked tail. Females and immatures carry a plain whitish throat with a rounded, black-and-white-banded tail — no red at all. Young males begin showing a scatter of red throat feathers by late summer as they molt toward adult plumage.

Pennsylvania's season runs unusually late for a Mid-Atlantic state — the statewide peak lands in the first week of September at nearly 30% of checklists, driven as much by fall migrants passing through as by local breeders. Where you are matters: arrival doesn't run south-to-north the way you'd expect. Philadelphia and the Poconos see first arrivals in the same week, while Pittsburgh and Erie in the west lag about a week behind. See the Pennsylvania hummingbird calendar for the full regional breakdown.

Ruby-throated vs. Black-chinned: Where Identification Actually Breaks Down

Adult male Ruby-throated and Black-chinned Hummingbirds are usually easy to tell apart in good light — one shows a red gorget, the other a black one edged in violet-purple. But Cornell Lab's own species comparison is blunt about the rest: females and immatures of the two species are close to identical in the field. The one reliable field mark on a perched bird is wing-to-tail proportions — Ruby-throated has a longer tail that extends visibly past the wingtips at rest, while Black-chinned has longer wings that reach the tip of the tail or extend just slightly beyond it. Some birders also watch for tail-pumping: Black-chinned habitually pumps its tail while hovering, Ruby-throated tends to hold its tail still.

Black-chinned is a genuine but accidental Pennsylvania record, officially accepted by the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee. So an unusual-looking female hummingbird here is worth a second look, even though Ruby-throated remains the far more likely explanation by a wide margin.

Pennsylvania Hummingbirds in Winter

Rufous Hummingbird — the regular fall visitor

A fiery orange western species that turns up in small numbers most years, mostly October through December, occasionally with a real presence lingering into January. It's regular enough that PORC classifies it as Regular rather than a species requiring documentation for every report. If a hummingbird shows up at your feeder in November, there's a real chance it's this species rather than a lingering Ruby-throated — statewide Rufous activity actually peaks in the third week of November.

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.

Rufous vs. Allen's: A Problem Even Banders Struggle With

This is Pennsylvania's hardest identification call, and it's worth understanding why rather than guessing. Adult male Allen's Hummingbird can be told from Rufous by a solid green back with no rufous feathering at all — if a bird shows any solid-rufous feathers on its back, it is not an Allen's. Allen's also runs slightly smaller, with a shorter average wing chord (about 38mm versus Rufous's 40.6mm) and shorter tail.

Beyond that one clean field mark, it gets genuinely difficult. Females and immatures of the two species are, per Audubon's own field guide, "almost impossible to separate... without close examination." Pennsylvania's own bird records journal is direct about the practical implication: unless a bird shows a completely solid orange back, positively distinguishing Rufous from Allen's can only be done through a thorough, in-hand examination by a licensed bander measuring specific feather and wing dimensions. Sight-only reports of either species, absent that solid-color field mark, are properly called "Rufous/Allen's-type" rather than assigned to a species.

Allen's has only a handful of accepted Pennsylvania records total, each one confirmed through banding — including a 2012 Bucks County bird, initially assumed to be a Rufous when it arrived, that was banded and correctly identified as Pennsylvania's third state record. If you're hosting an unusually orange hummingbird this fall, the honest answer to "which one is it" is often "we won't know for certain unless someone bands it."

If You're Lucky: Pennsylvania's True Rarities

Keep a feeder up into fall and you're giving yourself a real shot at hosting something genuinely unusual. Every species below is an accepted Pennsylvania state record, per the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee's official checklist.

Anna's Hummingbird

A Pacific Coast specialist and a genuine long-distance stray this far east. Adult males show an iridescent rose-red gorget that extends up over the crown, not just the throat — no other species on this list shows color on the head itself. Females and young are green above with a whitish throat, sometimes flecked with a few red spots. Pennsylvania has real winter and even January records for this species, so a December or January sighting isn't unheard of.

Calliope Hummingbird

The smallest breeding bird in the United States, with a compact, hunched posture that makes it look even tinier than its roughly 3-inch length. Adult males have a truly unique field mark: a gorget of magenta streaks radiating out from the throat like a starburst, a pattern no other North American hummingbird shows. Females and immatures are far plainer — green above, peachy-washed underparts, with fine dark stippling on the throat rather than solid color. At rest, the wingtips extend to about the tip of the short tail, another useful mark given the tiny overall size.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

A genuine rarity here, with a normal range centered on Arizona and Mexico. Pennsylvania's lone accepted record is a specific, photographed 2023 sighting in Allegheny County. Cornell Lab calls the species unmistakable within its normal range: a vivid red bill tipped in black, an emerald body, and a glittering blue throat on adult males — no other North American hummingbird combines a red bill with a blue gorget. Females are duller, with grayish underparts and that same telltale red-and-black bill.

Pennsylvania Hummingbirds at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

How many species of hummingbirds are in Pennsylvania?

Seven species have been documented in Pennsylvania, per the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee's official checklist. Ruby-throated is the only regular breeder, Rufous is the regular fall/winter visitor, and Black-chinned, Anna's, Calliope, Allen's, and Broad-billed are all genuine accidentals.

Are there hummingbirds in Pennsylvania in winter?

Yes, more reliably than you might expect. Rufous is the regular fall/winter visitor, most common October through December and peaking in mid-to-late November. Genuine winter rarities are less common but real — Pennsylvania has actual January records for species like Anna's Hummingbird.

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 — Cornell Lab points to wing-to-tail proportions as the one useful field mark.

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

Reliably? Often you can't, without a bander in hand. The one usable field mark is the back: adult male Allen's shows a solid green back with no rufous feathering, while any bird with solid-rufous back feathers is a Rufous, not an Allen's. Beyond that mark, females and immatures of the two species are nearly identical, and Pennsylvania's own accepted Allen's records were all confirmed through banding, not photographs.

What is that orange hummingbird I saw in Pennsylvania in the fall?

Almost certainly Rufous Hummingbird — it's Pennsylvania's regular fall and winter visitor, most active October through December. There's a small chance it's the much rarer Allen's Hummingbird, but that can only be confirmed with the bird in hand.

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

Sources

• Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee. Source for official species status (regular, accidental) for every hummingbird on Pennsylvania's state list.
• All About Birds, Ruby-throated Hummingbird Identification and Similar Species (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Source for plumage detail and the Ruby-throated/Black-chinned wing-to-tail field mark.
• All About Birds, Rufous Hummingbird Identification (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Source for Rufous plumage detail.
• Pennsylvania Birds, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee journal). Source for the Rufous/Allen's in-hand-only identification standard and Pennsylvania-specific vagrant history.
• Audubon Field Guide, Allen's Hummingbird. Source for the female/immature Rufous-Allen's identification difficulty.
• All About Birds, Anna's Hummingbird Identification (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Source for Anna's plumage detail.
• All About Birds, Calliope Hummingbird Identification (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Source for Calliope plumage and size detail.
• All About Birds, Broad-billed Hummingbird Identification (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Source for Broad-billed plumage detail.

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 Pennsylvania, most answers online stop at "Ruby-throated, plus the occasional Rufous," without ever mentioning the five other accepted species or the genuine identification problems some of them create. We built this page to give a direct, sourced answer: the complete, officially documented list, with real identification detail for every species on it — 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 pulled eBird bar chart data for Pennsylvania statewide, 2016 through 2025, to establish which species show a real, measurable presence. Only Ruby-throated and Rufous cleared a level worth calling out individually with hard numbers; everything else on Pennsylvania's list showed up as scattered, thin signal too isolated to chart reliably. For those species, we cross-checked against the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee's official state checklist and its published records journal rather than relying on eBird frequency alone.

The Rufous-versus-Allen's section in particular required going beyond a simple field guide summary: Pennsylvania's own bird records journal explains that sight-only identification of either species is unreliable outside one narrow field mark (a fully solid-color back), and that the state's own accepted Allen's records were confirmed by banders measuring actual wing and tail dimensions, not from photographs alone. That distinction — between what's photogenic and what's actually verifiable — doesn't show up in most casual identification content, and we thought it mattered enough to explain rather than gloss over.

For arrival and departure timing by region, that's a separate, original analysis on our Pennsylvania hummingbird calendar page.