Get your feeders ready, hummingbirds are back in Ohio. See where on this interactive map

Yahoo

14-04-2025

Get your feeders ready, hummingbirds are back in Ohio after migrating thousands of miles from their winter habitats in Mexico and Central America.
Here's where they have been spotted.
According to the interactive migration map at Hummingbird Central, hummingbirds were first spotted in the Buckeye State on March 31 in Cincinnati. On April 9, another was seen in Grove City, southwest of Columbus. That's as far north as they've come so far, according to the map. There have been other sightings in southern Ohio, and along the Ohio River in Kentucky and West Virginia.
For more than a decade, Hummingbird Central has tracked hummingbirds' northward migration, relying on "citizen spotters" to report their first hummingbird sightings, according to Ken Freeman, a Hummingbird Central staff member. Those reports are then plotted on an interactive map that shows the date and location of the site, and any comments that spotters want to leave. Sightings are color-coded by hummingbird species.
Through mid-April, ruby-throated hummingbirds have been spotted as far north as southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, working their way northward from the Gulf Coast. Other species have been spotted in Texas, Oklahoma and the Southwest. Some hummingbirds in California and the Pacific Northwest do not migrate, according to the website. The earliest hummingbird sighting reported on the map was on Jan. 26 in Key Largo, Florida.
AccuWeather shared a map on Facebook showing when different regions of the country can expect to see hummingbirds. According to the map, hummingbirds will arrive in the southern half of the Buckeye State from April 1 to 15, and the northern half from April 15 to 30.
Hummingbird fans rejoice! The ruby-throated hummingbirds are on their way back to the eastern US after spending the winter in Mexico and South America.
Posted by AccuWeather on Friday, March 7, 2025
That largely aligns with the dates shown by Hummingbird Central. In 2024, the site's interactive map shows the earliest hummingbird sighting in Otway, Ohio, near Portsmouth, on April 14. Other sightings in the southern portion of the state range from April 15 to 25.
There are two main species of hummingbirds in Ohio, according to Bird Advisors, but a total of seven are recognized in state bird records.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds are a common sight in summer. They are bright green on the back and crown, with a gray-white underside. Males have an iridescent red throat. Female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are green on the back and white underneath, with brownish crowns and sides.
Rufous hummingbirds are not very common in Ohio, but a few each year do wander this far north, Bird Advisors says. They are bright orange on the back and belly, a white patch below the throat, and an iridescent red throat in the males. The females are greenish-brown on the back and rusty-colored on the sides with a whitish belly.
Mexican violetears are extremely rare in Ohio. Some non-breeding Mexican violetears may fly north into the United States, more commonly to Texas. Some have been spotted as far north as Michigan and Ohio but very rarely.
Black-chinned hummingbirds have only been seen in 2020, near Columbus.
Calliope hummingbirds have only been spotted here a few times around Columbus, 2017 being the last.
Allen's hummingbirds have only been spotted in Ohio a few times in winter. They have not been recorded in the past 10 years.
Anna's hummingbirds have been spotted only a few times in the state in winter.
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If you are interested in attracting more hummingbirds to your homes and gardens this spring, here are a few of Hummingbird Central's tips and tricks:
Shelter: Large trees, shrubs and gardens help to provide hummingbirds with not only food but also a sense of protection and a place for resting in between meals.
Food in nature: The hummingbird's diet includes nectar from flowers, red flowers being their favorite, and small insects.
Water: Hummingbirds enjoy shallow bird baths for both drinking and bathing. They tend to especially enjoy water with movement, like a small waterfall.
Plants and flowers: Some of hummingbirds' favorite flowers and plants that you can add to your garden include, lantana, zinnias, pentas, salvia, batface cuphea, fire bush, nasturtiums and coreopsis.
Hummingbird feeders: Along with flowers and plants to provide shelter, hummingbird feeders are another great way to attract these little birds to your garden.
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Hummingbirds are drawn to tubular flowers that provide large amounts of nectar, according to online retailer Rare Roots. They often gravitate to red flowers, per The Spruce, but will visit all colors of flowers if it provides a meal.
Some of the more popular flowers to attract hummingbirds include phlox, lupine, columbine, hollyhocks, dianthus and butterfly bush, among others.
The typical backyard hummingbird feeder is filled with sugar water. But that's only a small portion of a hummingbird's diet.
The sucrose in flower nectar and sugar water gives hummingbirds the energy for their high metabolisms and swift wings, according to The Spruce, but it lacks protein. Up to 80% of their diet is small insects like mosquitoes, flies, gnats, spiders and aphids, reports Choose Natives, which promotes using native North American plants over invasive species to attract the birds.
If you want to make your own hummingbird nectar for backyard feeders, use a 4-to-1 ratio of water to sugar, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. Mix the water and sugar until fully dissolved, and store in the refrigerator between fills.
Change the solution in hummingbird feeders frequently. The National Zoo recommends changing feeders every other day and cleaning them thoroughly each time to prevent mold growth.
Bird Feeder Hub recommends putting hummingbird feeders outside in mid- to late-April in the Buckeye State. But they can go out even earlier, especially if the migration map shows hummingbirds arriving early.
The hum of a hummingbird is the noise generated by their wings, according to Live Science.
Hummingbird wings move at around 70 beats per second, or more than 4,000 beats per minute. Unique among birds, hummingbirds' wings allow them to hover.
Hummingbirds typically nest in the spring when they reach their breeding grounds, but that depends on the species, according to the American Bird Conservancy. They build tiny nests lined with thistledown, dandelion or other soft plant material, attached to a tree branch using spider webs and camouflaged by lichen or moss.
Hummingbirds lay eggs the size of small jellybeans that hatch in about two weeks. The chicks are cared for by their mother for about a month to 60 days depending on the species, after which they leave the nest.
According to the conservancy, hummingbird chicks "need a high-protein diet of insects to fuel fast growth and to develop strong bones and beaks." The mother gathers food several times a day and regurgitates it into the babies' mouths.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hummingbirds return to Ohio. See where on this interactive map