Timing derived from eBird data, 2016–2025 (sourced Aug 2026)

Pennsylvania's hummingbird year doesn't follow the simple south-to-north pattern you'd expect from a state this shape. Philadelphia and the Poconos — opposite corners of the state — actually see their first arrivals in the same week. The real gap is east-and-central versus west: Pittsburgh and Erie both lag about a week behind everywhere else. Statewide, the season also peaks unusually late for a Mid-Atlantic state — nearly 30% of eBird checklists report Ruby-throated in the first week of September, not August, driven as much by fall migrants passing through as by local breeders. Here's how the whole year actually unfolds, month by month.

The short answer: late April in Philadelphia, central PA, and the Poconos; the first week of May in Pittsburgh and Erie; peaking in early September; nearly gone by early October.

New to feeding hummingbirds? Start with our guide to attracting hummingbirds in Pennsylvania for species, feeders, nectar, and native plants. This page is the timing deep dive.

Pennsylvania's Hummingbird Season at a Glance

Before the month-by-month 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. Source: eBird bar chart data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), 2016–2025 (pulled Aug 2026).

Regional Arrival and Departure Snapshot

Windows derived from eBird bar chart data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), 2016–2025, for Philadelphia, Allegheny, Erie, Centre, and Monroe counties.

January, February & March: Quiet, With Rufous Tapering and Rare Records Possible

Ruby-throated is completely absent statewide across all three months. Rufous, though, shows a small, real signal even in January — the tail end of the fall wave rather than new arrivals — before tapering to its lowest point in February and staying quiet through March. If you spot any hummingbird during this stretch, photograph it and report it to PORC — genuine winter rarities like Black-chinned and Anna's have both been documented in Pennsylvania in the colder months.

Treat these three months as prep time rather than watch time. February is a good point to give your feeders a thorough off-season cleaning; by March, check for cracks or degraded seals over winter, stock up on sugar, and if you're planning to sow wildflower seed in spring as a backup to fall planting, late March is your window.

April: The First Real Scouts

April is when Pennsylvania's season actually begins, though barely at first — real signal doesn't show up until the very end of the month, when statewide reports jump to roughly 3% in the last week. This is scout-bird territory: the earliest, most adventurous males pushing north ahead of the main wave. Pop's tip: put your feeder up by late April so it's ready before these first arrivals — earlier in Philadelphia and the Poconos, about a week later if you're in Pittsburgh or Erie. Males typically arrive one to two weeks before females, so a quiet feeder in the first days is completely normal.

May: The Wave Arrives, East and West Alike

May is Pennsylvania's real arrival month. Statewide reports jump from about 10% in the first week to over 13% by mid-month. Unlike many states, there's no dramatic late-month surge here — Pennsylvania's spring wave lands fast and levels off quickly, holding in the 10–13% range through most of the month as birds settle into breeding territories.

June: Nesting Season Settles In

Ruby-throated activity holds steady through June, in the 10–13% range statewide, as birds settle into nesting. Females become secretive around the nest during this stretch, which can make feeder activity look quieter even though the birds haven't gone anywhere. Males, uninvolved in nest duties, remain visible and territorial.

July: Building Toward the Peak

Activity climbs steadily through July, from about 14% early in the month to 19% by month's end, as broods fledge and juveniles join adults at feeders and flowers. This is a genuine ramp, not a plateau — Pennsylvania's real peak is still a month away.

August: Approaching the Peak

August keeps climbing hard, from roughly 22% early in the month to over 29% by the last week — already near the eventual statewide peak. Birds are deep into hyperphagia, the intensive pre-migration feeding phase that can nearly double a hummingbird's fat reserves ahead of the trip south.

September: The Statewide Peak, Then the Fast Exit

September is Pennsylvania's busiest hummingbird month, and its shortest-lived one. Statewide reports peak at nearly 30% in the first week — the single highest point of the entire year, and notably later than many neighboring states — then collapse to under 7% by the last week. That's more than a three-quarters drop in a single month. Rufous also starts to show real signal for the first time this month, right as Ruby-throated is leaving.

October: Last Stragglers, Real Rufous Season

By October, most Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have already left Pennsylvania — statewide reports fall from about 2% in the first week to nearly zero by month's end, with only isolated stragglers anywhere in the state. October is also when Rufous activity becomes genuinely substantial, climbing toward its own fall peak. Pop's tip: keep your feeder up for two to three weeks after your last Ruby-throated sighting to support late-season stragglers, and consider leaving at least one feeder up into November if you'd like a shot at Rufous.

November: Peak Rufous-Watching

Ruby-throated is essentially absent statewide in November. This is instead the single best month of the year to watch for Rufous Hummingbird, Pennsylvania's most reliable rare visitor — statewide activity peaks in the third week of November, and the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee classifies it as Regular precisely because it shows up in small numbers most years. If a hummingbird visits your feeder this month, there's a real chance it's a Rufous rather than a lingering Ruby-throated.

December: The Last of the Stragglers

December carries the tail end of Pennsylvania's Rufous season, with reports gradually tapering through the month but still present at meaningfully higher levels than the following January and February. Genuine winter accidentals are also possible — Pennsylvania's checklist includes real December and January records for species like Black-chinned and Anna's, so a feeder left up through the cold isn't wasted effort.

The Year at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

When do hummingbirds come back to Pennsylvania?

Late April in Philadelphia, central Pennsylvania, and the Poconos; the first week of May in Pittsburgh and Erie. Our data shows real, sustained arrivals don't begin until the very end of April even in the earliest regions — earlier feeder setup is a safety buffer, not a sign the birds are already here.

When do hummingbirds leave Pennsylvania?

Fast, and later than you might expect: the statewide peak actually lands in the first week of September, then reports drop more than three-quarters by the end of the month. Nearly all Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are gone by early October, with only isolated stragglers into the month.

How long do hummingbirds stay in Pennsylvania?

Roughly five months for the typical Pennsylvania yard — arriving late April to early May and mostly gone by early October. Add the fall-into-winter Rufous season, which runs October through December most years with a real presence even into January, and the practical "hummingbird watching" window stretches closer to nine months.

Why is my feeder in Pittsburgh still empty in early May?

Because western Pennsylvania is genuinely the last part of the state to see activity. Our Allegheny and Erie county data both show real arrivals landing about a week later than Philadelphia, central PA, and the Poconos — the opposite of a simple south-to-north pattern, but a real, measured gap.

Should I keep a feeder up through a Pennsylvania winter?

If you want a real shot at Rufous, yes — October through December is your best window, and it's regular enough that the state records committee classifies it as Regular rather than a species requiring review. Genuine winter rarities like Black-chinned and Anna's are vanishingly unlikely in any given year, but both have real Pennsylvania records.

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. Most timing advice assumes Pennsylvania runs south-to-north like a simple latitude model would predict, and that assumption is genuinely wrong here: the Poconos arrive right alongside Philadelphia, while Pittsburgh and Erie lag behind. A reader in western Pennsylvania following south-to-north advice would be waiting on the wrong week.

How We Built This Calendar

We pulled eBird bar chart data for Pennsylvania statewide and for five counties — Philadelphia, Allegheny (Pittsburgh), Erie, Centre (State College), and Monroe (Poconos) — chosen for geographic spread across the state's real climate range, covering 2016 through 2025, and read the seasonal shape and regional pattern directly off the reporting rates ourselves.

Two definitions drive every number on this page: "first arrivals" is the first week a region's reporting rate clearly rises above its winter baseline and keeps climbing, and "reliably common" is the first week that region's reports hit 25% of that region's own seasonal peak — not a statewide peak, since a rural county and a metro county don't share a baseline.

Before charting any low-frequency species, we checked its shape across the year: a bird reported steadily across many weeks reflects a genuine pattern, while an isolated spike sitting exactly at eBird's reporting floor is noise, not signal — several Rufous data points that looked like early-summer activity were excluded from the winter chart above for exactly this reason. We also didn't build a third, species-normalized timing chart on top of the two above: that chart exists specifically to rescue a rare species being visually flattened on a shared-scale chart, and our two-chart split already solves that problem directly — Rufous, alone on its own axis in the winter chart, is already shown at its own true scale.

The genuine finding worth calling out: Pennsylvania does not run on a simple south-to-north gradient. Monroe County (the Poconos) arrives in the same week as Philadelphia, while Allegheny and Erie in the west both lag roughly a week behind — a real, measured pattern that a latitude-based guess would get backwards. The county-level comparison and this east-versus-west finding are original analysis on our part, not a rewrite of eBird's own bar charts.