Utah Hummingbird Season: A Month-by-Month Calendar

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

Utah runs from Mojave-edge desert in the southwest to 13,000-foot peaks in the northeast, and hummingbird timing shifts by roughly six weeks across that span. St. George gets its first birds while the Uintas are still under snow — and in one corner of the state, the season never fully ends at all.

The short answer: the third week of March in St. George, the last week of April in the Uintas, and most of the state is empty again by late September — Grand and Washington counties linger into October. Washington County is the exception for winter, too — Anna's stays all year.

Utah's Hummingbird Season at a Glance

Before the elevation-by-elevation detail below, here's the whole season in one picture — four species, four very different curves, shaped by how high up and how far southwest you are.

How often each species turns up on eBird checklists, week by week — statewide, 2016–2025. The elevation-by-elevation breakdown below shows how these same curves shift earlier, later, or turn into a year-round presence depending on where in Utah you are.

That statewide curve is really five very different elevation zones averaged together — where you land inside it depends on how high up, and how far southwest, you are. Here's the region-by-region detail, so you can see exactly where you fall.

Regional Arrival Snapshot

Arrival and departure windows for Black-chinned Hummingbird — Utah's most commonly reported species almost everywhere on this map, and most of all in Salt Lake County. The Uinta Mountains are the exception: Broad-tailed leads there instead, and narrowly edges it out in the High Plateaus around Bryce Canyon too. Broad-tailed also arrives first, or ties for first, in every region sampled — even where Black-chinned goes on to become far more numerous by peak season. Derived from eBird bar chart data (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), 2016–2025; no Utah agency publishes region-by-region arrival dates.

January: The Winter Exception Is In Full Swing

Across most of Utah, this is the dead of the off-season — no feeders needed, no birds expected. Washington County is a real exception, and a bigger one than you'd guess: Anna's Hummingbird shows up on about one in six checklists in the St. George area this month — not a rare fluke sighting, but a consistent, common presence. It's still officially classified as a rare winter visitor statewide, but if you keep a feeder up year-round in St. George, you're very likely to see one.

February: The Winter Peak

Statewide, this is still the quiet season everywhere but the far southwest. In Washington County, though, February is Anna's Hummingbird's single best month of the year — it turns up on about one in five checklists, more often than at any other point on the calendar, edging out even the heart of winter in January and December. This is also when Costa's Hummingbird reaches the St. George area for the year — roughly two months before the rest of the state sees its first birds — though like Anna's, it stays confined to that corner of Utah. The table below shows how Anna's checklist numbers move across the full year.

Source: our own analysis of eBird bar chart data for Washington County, Utah, 2016–2025.

March: The Season Begins in the Desert

Broad-tailed Hummingbirds reach the St. George area by the third week of March, with Black-chinned arriving close behind by late March to early April. This is well ahead of the rest of the state — get feeders up in Washington County by late March if you want to catch the first arrivals.

April: The Wave Moves North and Up

By early April, Black-chinned Hummingbirds have reached Moab, and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are arriving in the high country — Bryce Canyon and Boulder Mountain typically see their first Broad-tailed by mid-April. By late April, Black-chinned have reached Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front, matched by Broad-tailed's own late-April arrival in the Uinta Mountains, which continues into early May.

May: Full Swing, Nesting Begins

By May, Utah's two confirmed breeders — Black-chinned and Broad-tailed — are present statewide and nesting is underway. Costa's remains present in the St. George area too, though its breeding status in Utah isn't confirmed. This is peak feeder traffic across most of the state.

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 →

June: The Elevation Split Is in Full Effect

Lower elevations statewide are dominated by Black-chinned Hummingbirds. In the Uinta Mountains, Broad-tailed Hummingbird is now clearly the more frequently reported species. Around Bryce Canyon and Boulder Mountain, Black-chinned and Broad-tailed run nearly even. Nesting continues across the state. This is also the month when Anna's Hummingbird activity in St. George dips to its yearly low — still present, just quieter than the rest of the year.

July: The Southbound Wave Begins

Around July 1, Rufous Hummingbirds — carrying fat reserves built up on breeding grounds as far north as Alaska — begin passing through Utah on their way south. They're often aggressive at feeders, and this is also when the Red Canyon Lodge banding event (Dutch John, Uinta Mountains) is traditionally held each year.

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. A second feeder and a second swing, spaced out of sight of each other, gives another bird — the incoming Rufous or a displaced resident — its own station to guard instead of fighting over one.

Shop a second swing →

August: Peak Migration Traffic

Rufous migration continues through August, and Calliope Hummingbird — North America's smallest bird — begins its own southbound push through Utah's mountain corridors. This is often the single busiest month at a Utah feeder, with resident breeders, Rufous, and Calliope all present at once.

Keep pests off without pesticides.

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.

Shop AspenPerch® →

Shop HummGuard® →

September: Last Call for Migrants

Rufous and Calliope wrap up their southbound migration through September. Breeding Black-chinned and Broad-tailed populations also begin departing, typically finishing by early October.

This is the month to be generous, not economical.

Utah’s breeding Black-chinned and Broad-tailed are still around and fueling up before their own departure, on top of the last Rufous and Calliope passing through — feeders empty faster than any other month. The large 2lb Nectarlyte® powder or the Nectarade® liquid concentrate keeps you from running out mid-surge.

Shop Nectarlyte® Powder 2 lb →

Shop Nectarade® Liquid 50.7 oz →

October: Closing Out (Except in St. George and Moab)

Most of Utah has seen its last hummingbirds by late September. Grand County lingers into early October, and Washington County holds on longest of all, into mid-October — where Anna's Hummingbird stays put, and it's worth leaving a feeder up there through the winter.

This is the planting month.

Sow now and native wildflowers get the cold, moist period most varieties need to bloom reliably next spring.

Shop the Perfect Little Sanctuary® blend →

November: Statewide Season Ends

The statewide breeding and migration season is over — Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, Rufous, and Calliope are all gone. In the St. George area, Anna's Hummingbird keeps turning up regularly, carrying the Washington County exception into the new year.

December: Winter Holds Steady in St. George

Everywhere but the far southwest, this is the quietest point of the year. In Washington County, Anna's shows up a little more often than in November — not the yearly peak (that's February), but a steady, dependable presence that carries the exception straight through into January.

Pop's tip: If you only remember one thing from this calendar — Utah doesn't have one hummingbird season, it has two. A five-to-six-week rolling wave from St. George to the Uintas each spring, and a real, dependable winter presence of Anna's Hummingbird in the far southwest that the rest of the state doesn't get at all. Our winter hummingbird feeder care guide covers heated feeders and the two-feeder swap.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do hummingbirds come back to Utah?

Broad-tailed reach the St. George area by the third week of March. From there the wave moves north and up: Moab by early April, Bryce Canyon and Boulder Mountain by mid-April, Salt Lake City by late April, and the Uinta Mountains in the last week of April into May.

When do hummingbirds leave Utah?

Breeding Black-chinned and Broad-tailed begin departing in September, and most of the state is empty by late September. Grand County lingers into early October, and Washington County longest of all, into mid-October — where Anna's stays on for the winter.

Are there hummingbirds in Utah in winter?

In the St. George area, yes. Anna's Hummingbird turns up on roughly one in five or six eBird checklists through December, January, and February in Washington County. Everywhere else in Utah the season is genuinely closed from November through February.

What is the busiest month for hummingbirds in Utah?

August. Resident breeders are still present, Rufous migration is in full swing, and Calliope has begun its own southbound push — three groups at the feeder at once.

Why do Rufous and Calliope show up so late in Utah?

Because they aren't arriving to breed — they're already migrating south. Rufous begins passing through around July 1, carrying fat reserves built up on breeding grounds as far north as Alaska, and Calliope follows in August and September.

Why We Built This Calendar

Pop's Birding has been helping hummingbird lovers for three generations, and “When do hummingbirds arrive and leave my state?” is one of the questions we hear most. Utah is hard to answer with a single date: its season shifts by roughly six weeks from the desert around St. George to the Uinta Mountains. We built this calendar to show that real regional spread, and a surprise in the data — Broad-tailed, not the far more numerous Black-chinned, arrives first in every region we sampled — instead of one statewide date that would be wrong for most of the state.

How We Built This Calendar

We pulled eBird bar chart data for Utah statewide and for five proxy counties — Washington (St. George), Grand (Moab), Salt Lake, Garfield (Bryce Canyon), and Summit (Uintas) — 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 — Utah statewide and county-level (Washington, Grand, Salt Lake, Garfield, Summit), 2016–2025. Source for all month-by-month seasonal figures and the regional arrival gradient.
• Utah Bird Records Committee — official statewide species status and classifications.
• BLM/Hummingbird Monitoring Network banding program, reported by The Wildlife Society — source for the Red Canyon Lodge banding event and general timing corroboration.
• 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.