Aug 05, 2026
Illinois Hummingbird Season: A Month-by-Month Calendar
Timing derived from eBird data, 2016–2025 (sourced Aug 2026)
Illinois runs one of the more dramatic hummingbird calendars in the Midwest for its size — a single breeding species that sweeps in from the south over about three weeks, a busy early-September peak, and a quiet winter stretch that most years produces a real visitor worth watching for, and occasionally something genuinely rare. Here's how the year actually unfolds, county by county.
The short answer: early April in southern Illinois, early May in the north, and most are gone again by late October.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| When do they arrive? | Early April in the south, early May in the north |
| When should feeders go up? | Early April in southern Illinois; late April farther north |
| When do they nest? | Late May through late July |
| When do they leave? | From August; most gone by late October |
| Any in winter? | Rufous, most years, typically peaking in early December — and occasionally something rarer |
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The whole year on one page
Arrival windows county by county, when to hang feeders in your part of the state, and when to watch for Rufous — printed small enough to tape inside the shed door.
Download the Illinois cheat sheetOne page · PDF · free to print and share
Illinois's Hummingbird Season at a Glance
Before the county-by-county detail below, here's the whole season in two pictures — Ruby-throated's full-season curve, and the winter visitors worth watching for, shown at their own scale since they're a small fraction of Ruby-throated's numbers.
How often each species turns up on eBird checklists, week by week — statewide, 2016–2025. The regional breakdown below shows exactly when that wave reaches your part of the state.
Regional Arrival Snapshot
| County | Ruby-throated First Arrivals | Reliably Common By |
|---|---|---|
| Jackson (Carbondale) | Early April | Late April |
| St. Clair (Belleville) | Mid-April | Late April |
| Sangamon (Springfield) | Late April | Early May |
| Champaign (Champaign-Urbana) | Late April | Mid-May |
| Cook (Chicago) | Early May | Mid-May |
Windows derived from eBird bar chart data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), 2016–2025, for Cook, Sangamon, Champaign, St. Clair, and Jackson counties. "First arrivals" is the first week reporting rises clearly above the winter baseline; "reliably common" is the first week each county's reports reach 25% of that county's seasonal peak. About three weeks separates the earliest county (Jackson, far south) from the latest (Cook, far north).
January, February & March: The Quiet Season
| Statewide | The quietest stretch of Illinois's hummingbird year. Any hummingbird seen this early is a genuine winter record, most likely Rufous or Anna's, and worth reporting to the Illinois Ornithological Records Committee. |
| Late March | The very first Ruby-throated scouts can appear in extreme southern Illinois — but reliable statewide arrival is still weeks away. Have a feeder ready by early April. |
If a Rufous or Anna's spent time at your feeder in November or December, keep the feeder up and monitored — these birds can linger well into winter. For everyone else, have a feeder cleaned and ready by early April, when Illinois's first spring scouts arrive.
Stock up before the first wave hits.
The busiest feeder days arrive all at once — having the 2lb Nectarlyte® powder or Nectarade® liquid concentrate on hand means you're mixing fresh nectar every few days, not scrambling for supplies mid-surge.
April: The First Scouts
| Jackson (Carbondale) | First scouts reach the far south by early April. |
| Rest of Illinois | Nothing reliable yet. |
These are scattered early individuals, not yet a reliable population — but it's worth having a feeder up in far-southern Illinois by this point.
May: The Wave Moves North
| Mid-April | St. Clair (Belleville) — first arrivals |
| Late April | Jackson and St. Clair reliably common; Sangamon (Springfield) and Champaign (Champaign-Urbana) first arrivals |
| Early May | Sangamon reliably common; Cook (Chicago) first arrivals |
| Mid-May | Champaign and Cook reliably common — typically last |
This is Illinois's real spring story: Ruby-throated becomes reliably common in a rolling wave that starts in the far south and takes about three weeks to reach Chicago. If you're in Cook County, don't be discouraged if your feeder sits quiet into mid-May — that's normal here.
June: Nesting Season Begins
Illinois's breeding Ruby-throateds settle in and nest statewide. Feeder activity can taper off somewhat as females become secretive around the nest, though it never goes fully silent.
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: The Heat Brings the Pests
Nesting continues into late July, but Illinois's summer heat also brings ants, bees, and wasps out in force around feeders — competing with hummingbirds for the same sugar water right when they need it most.
Keep pests off without pesticides — hummingbirds rely on small insects for protein, so spraying near a feeder can cost them a food source, not just protect one.
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.
August, September & October: Southbound Migration
| August | Breeding Ruby-throateds start moving south, adult males first, per University of Illinois Extension. |
| Early September | Statewide peak — this year's fledglings join the adults at feeders before migration. |
| By late October | Most are gone from the state. |
Seeing one bird chase everyone else off?
That's usually a resident claiming both the feeder and a nearby swing as its own guarded territory — Rufous is especially known for this. A second feeder and a second swing, spaced out of sight of each other, gives another bird — the incoming migrant or a displaced resident — its own station to guard instead of fighting over one.
Shop a second swing →This matches University of Illinois Extension's description of Ruby-throateds migrating south in late summer, with males typically leaving first in August — our own statewide checklist data keeps climbing through August as fledglings join the adults, not peaking until early September, which reflects population growth rather than a contradiction.
This is the planting month.
Sow now and native wildflowers get the cold, moist period most varieties need to bloom reliably next spring, from late September into early November.
Shop the Perfect Little Sanctuary® blend →November & December: The Quiet Season, With One Regular Exception
By this point in the year, any hummingbird at an Illinois feeder is worth a closer look. Rufous Hummingbird is Illinois's most regular winter visitor, typically peaking in early December. Anna's Hummingbird turns up most winters too, in smaller numbers, often starting a bit earlier in the fall. True rarities occasionally show up as well — Illinois's first-ever confirmed Broad-tailed Hummingbird was found in Champaign County in November 2023, and the state has also documented a single Broad-billed Hummingbird record, both accepted by the Illinois Ornithological Records Committee.
Pop's tip: Illinois doesn't reward keeping a feeder up in winter with regular hummingbird traffic the way the Gulf Coast does — but it does occasionally reward patience with a Rufous or Anna's, or rarely something rarer still. Keep at least one feeder up through the cold months if you like a bit of birding lottery with your coffee.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do hummingbirds come back to Illinois?
Early April in the far south, and about three weeks later in the north. Jackson County (Carbondale) sees the first scouts by early April; Cook County (Chicago) typically follows last, in mid-May.
When do hummingbirds leave Illinois?
Southbound movement starts in August, and most breeding Ruby-throateds are gone from the state by late October. Rufous Hummingbirds arrive as the breeders leave, typically peaking in early December.
How long do hummingbirds stay in Illinois?
Roughly six months for the breeding population, from early April arrival in the south through late October departure. The season runs a few weeks shorter in the north, where they arrive later.
Why is my Chicago feeder quiet in late April?
Because the wave hasn't reached you yet. Ruby-throated becomes reliably common in Cook County by mid-May — about three weeks behind Carbondale. A quiet feeder in late April is normal in northern Illinois.
Should I keep a feeder up through an Illinois winter?
It won't bring regular traffic the way the Gulf Coast does. But most years produce a Rufous Hummingbird report or two statewide, often an Anna's too, and rarely something genuinely rare — Illinois has one documented Broad-tailed Hummingbird record and one Broad-billed.
Why We Built This Calendar
Pop's Birding has been helping hummingbird lovers for three generations. One of the questions our customers ask most often is "When do hummingbirds arrive and leave my state?" — we built this calendar to give a direct, sourced answer, not a generic one. Illinois runs nearly 400 miles north to south, and hummingbird timing reflects that: the first Ruby-throateds reach Cairo and the river bottoms of southern Illinois in early April, while Chicagoland typically doesn't see peak numbers until the second half of May — a genuine six-to-eight-week difference in seasonal window across the same state. We also wanted a calendar honest about Illinois's documented rare species: both Broad-tailed and Broad-billed Hummingbirds have been recorded here, and knowing that keeps a late-season or out-of-range bird from going unreported.
How We Built This Calendar
We pulled eBird bar chart data for Illinois statewide and for five counties — Cook (Chicago), Sangamon (Springfield), Champaign (Champaign-Urbana), St. Clair (Belleville), and Jackson (Carbondale) — covering 2016 through 2025, and read the seasonal shape and regional pattern directly off the reporting rates ourselves. Percentages describe how often a species appears on birdwatchers' submitted checklists — a measure of how likely you are to encounter one, not a population count.
Sources
- eBird bar chart data, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Illinois statewide and county-level (Cook, Sangamon, Champaign, St. Clair, Jackson), 2016–2025. Source for all month-by-month seasonal figures and the south-to-north regional arrival pattern.
- University of Illinois Extension, "More than feeders: Attracting hummingbirds to your landscape" (Ken Johnson). Source for statewide arrival timing corroboration.
- University of Illinois Extension, "Gardening for a hummingbird's travels". Source for fall departure timing.
- Illinois Ornithological Records Committee. Source for Illinois's documented rarity records, including the Broad-tailed Hummingbird first state record.
- 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.
Event dates and formats change from year to year. Check organizer websites before making plans.
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 Illinois'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.
