October is right around the corner, so you know it’s time to talk about when to take down those hummingbird feeders.

Followers of this column have heard it all before and hopefully still have their feeders up, but for new readers, here’s the update: We are heading into a very exciting time of year for migrating birds, and we tend to see more western species show up in the east. We often refer to these birds as vagrants, mostly migrants that have gotten off course, but for some species, we are seeing shifts in migratory patterns and range expansions.

So, hummingbirds. In eastern North America, we typically only have one species of hummingbird, the ruby-throated hummingbird. It is a migratory species that arrives in Maine each spring — typically early to mid May — then spends the summer nesting across the state.

Most ruby-throated hummingbirds depart in September, though we do get reports of small numbers lingering into October and many fewer in November.

In 2016, there was one that lingered in a South Portland yard until mid-December, making it Maine’s only record of a ruby-throated hummingbird during a Christmas Bird Count. Interestingly, that bird was found foraging on pineapple sage (Salvia elegans), a non-native species in Maine, but one that it would probably be feeding on in Mexico at that time.

In October, we should be on the lookout for both ruby-throated hummingbirds as well as western selasphorus hummingbirds. This genus of hummingbirds primarily occurs (in North America) from the Rockies west to the Pacific, and north into Alaska. On their southward migration, these birds are increasingly detected here, largely because they get spotted at the feeders they visit.

In the last few decades, rufous hummingbirds have been overwintering in the southeastern United States, while historically they would travel farther south into southwestern Mexico. The birds that winter farther north are more likely to reach their breeding grounds earlier in the spring, likely occupying better territories and having higher reproductive success, and passing on their genes that perhaps made that choice to winter farther east to begin with. 

Researchers have been banding many of these individuals, putting small metal bands with unique identifiers on their legs so those birds can be identified if seen at another place or time, and showing that these birds are being successful and returning to the east in multiple years.

We now have at least 30 records of selasphorus hummingbirds in Maine, including an adult female rufous hummingbird that was banded in Dayton in 2022 while visiting feeders from Oct. 22 through Nov. 14. In 2024, another adult female rufous hummingbird was banded in Port Clyde, first discovered on Oct. 31 and lingering until Dec. 2. In 2025, two more rufous hummingbirds were banded: an adult female in Bath and a juvenile male in South Portland, plus one unidentified probable-rufous in Cape Elizabeth that was a one-day-wonder.

Many vagrants are immature males, thought to be prospecting, but recent rufous records definitely buck that trend. Speaking of young males, a hatch-year (born that year) broad-tailed hummingbird was discovered in Freeport in November 2022, the first time one had ever been seen in New England. 

Maine has two records of calliope hummingbirds, both discovered in the month of October (Oct. 6 and 23), but it has been 18 years since the last sighting. We haven’t had an Allen’s hummingbird identified here, which would be the next expected species of hummingbird for the state, so maybe this year (and your feeder) could be the fall for something extra exciting. 

Each record helps us learn more about the shifting patterns of these birds. It can be difficult to determine anything from a single sighting, but collecting information about each individual helps form patterns to track. 

As a reminder, the proper hummingbird food is a simple 4-to-1 ratio of water to plain white sugar. Do not use red dyes, and sugar alternatives (like honey, and raw or brown sugar) contain levels of iron that can be lethal. So clean and refill your feeders and let us know if you have any visitors.

It’s very hard to accurately identify these vagrants in their various fall plumages. If you see any hummingbirds this fall, take the best photos you can, and please let us know at naturalist@maineaudubon.org. 

Have you got a nature or wildlife question of your own? It doesn’t have to be about birds! Email questions to ask@maineaudubon.org and visit www.maineaudubon.org to learn more about birding, native plants, and programs and events focusing on Maine wildlife and habitat. Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox and other naturalists lead free bird walks on Thursday mornings starting at 7 am, at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm Audubon Sanctuary in Falmouth.