East Coast sightings reach New Jersey and Delaware
More sightings are coming in every day!
Since our last update, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have made their first appearances of the year in Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, with more dots filling the map every day.
“A single Ruby-throated stopped by the nectar feeders briefly this afternoon. Took a few sips of nectar then flew off,” wrote Michael in Mason, Ohio, on April 3, our second most northern report so far this season.
The northernmost Ruby-throated Hummingbird report came from Tina in Trenton, New Jersey, on April 2. It's early in the season, and worth noting that we have only received one report each from Ohio, New Jersey, Missouri and New Jersey. We've received two in Delaware.
A little bit further south, where we've had more sightings, it has been a big week in Virginia especially, where we’ve received 15 reports since Saturday.
“First hummingbird sighting of the season at our feeder this morning. It was a male. This is 5 days later than we saw them in the past 2 years. But, in 2022, our first sighting was also on April 7,” wrote Michelle in Carrolton, Virginia, on April 7.
If you’re not seeing hummingbirds yet and the maps are starting to show sightings around you, don’t worry. There’s lots of time after the initial excitement of the first sightings for more hummingbirds to arrive.
In Columbia, Tennessee, Nita reported a sighting on April 7, writing that patience had paid off.
“My feeders have been out for nearly a month,” Nita wrote. “I was starting to think they weren’t going to come.”
“Was standing at the front door when something whizzed by and through the carport. Realized it was a hummingbird so ran through the house to peek out the dining room window and see it land on the feeder on the back deck,” wrote Erma in Texarkana, Texas, on April 7. “A little late for my first one this year but think they have been here and I just didn't see them.”
April is a big week for hummingbird movement, so we should see quite a bit of northward progress by our next update.
Last year, April gave us Journey North sightings from Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan in Canada and every U.S. state except North Dakota.
An Alaska first!
Along the West Coast, we also received our first hummingbird report from Alaska!
On Prince of Wales Island, Bob in Craig, Alaska, reported a “windblown and frumpy-looking" male Rufous Hummingbird on April 4, three days after placing a feeder out.
It's right on time with some of Bob's reports from the last few years, with prior reports from April 12, 2021, April 1, 2022 and March 16, 2024.
It's no surprise that a Rufous Hummingbird would look a bit frumpy after all their traveling. Rufous Hummingbirds mostly overwinter in Mexico, then travel as far north as Alaska in the spring. That's a long trip for a bird that weighs less than two pennies.
Don’t forget to submit your first observations of hummingbirds, orioles and all other signs of spring to Journey North.
