Journal · 24 June 2026

The Central Florida hummingbird calendar

Ruby-throats move through Orlando in spring and again in autumn, and a few stay all winter. When to hang feeders, when to scale back and why to leave one up.

Central Florida sits on a migration route rather than at the end of one, which changes how the year works compared with most of the country. Ruby-throated hummingbirds pass through going north in spring and south in autumn, and a small number do not leave at all.

The practical consequence is that the feeding year here has two peaks and no true off season.

Late winter into spring

The northbound movement begins earlier here than most people expect. Birds start appearing along the Gulf coast and through the peninsula from late February, with the strongest passage through March and into April.

Feeders should be clean, filled and hanging by the middle of February. A bird arriving after a long flight is looking for a reliable source, and a feeder that appears two weeks after the first arrivals has already missed them.

Summer, the quiet stretch

June through early August is the thinnest part of the year in most Orlando gardens. Numbers drop, and the birds that remain are largely local breeders working a wide area.

This is the period to scale down rather than stop. A small feeder filled a quarter full, changed every other day, is far better than a large one that ferments. Many people take the opportunity to do a deep clean of the larger bottles and put them away for a few weeks.

Autumn, the busiest weeks

The southbound passage is the peak of the Central Florida year, running from about mid-August through October and sometimes into November. This is when a garden can support several birds at once and when territorial behaviour is most obvious.

It is also the moment when a second and third feeder, positioned out of sight of one another, makes the most visible difference. A single feeder in September will usually be held by one aggressive individual.

Winter: leave one up

The old advice to take feeders down so birds are not encouraged to stay is simply wrong, and it has been thoroughly tested. Migration is triggered by day length, not by food availability, and no feeder has ever persuaded a hummingbird to skip a migration it was going to make.

What a winter feeder does do is support the small number of birds that genuinely overwinter here, including occasional western species that turn up in Florida gardens. One clean, well-maintained feeder through December and January costs very little and is occasionally the reason somebody records a rufous hummingbird in their own back garden.

Adjusting the schedule to the weather

The cleaning interval follows temperature rather than the calendar, and a Central Florida December can still run into the eighties. Judge by the thermometer, not by the month.

The one seasonal exception worth planning for is the run-up to a storm. Bring feeders in when wind is forecast, and put them back out as soon as it passes: birds displaced by weather are looking for food urgently and a feeder that is already there matters more than usual.

Records worth keeping

Noting the date of the first bird each spring and the last each autumn takes seconds and becomes genuinely useful after two or three years. It tells you when to have feeders out rather than relying on a general rule.

It also makes the quiet weeks easier to accept. A garden that seems empty in July is not a garden doing something wrong; it is the ordinary shape of the Central Florida year.

From our shelves

Small saucer feeders suit the quiet months, when a large bottle would spoil before it emptied. Everything below is in stock as this piece is published, and the prices shown are read live from the catalogue rather than typed into the article, so they cannot drift out of date. Across the whole group prices currently run from $13.99 to $14.99, and the listing pages carry the full specification for each one.

eWonLife 2-Pack 16 oz Saucer Hummingbird Feeders, Built-in Ant Moat, Pure Red — $14.99
Attract vibrant hummingbirds to your garden with this 2-pack of eWonLife 16 oz saucer feeders. Featuring bee-proof ports, a built-in ant moat, and an easy-clean design, these leak-proof feeders offer a delightful and low-maintenance way to enjoy nature's tiny marvels.
Kingsyard 2-Pack 16 oz Saucer Hummingbird Feeders with Ant Moats — $13.99
Attract more hummingbirds to your garden with these Kingsyard saucer feeders. Designed to be leak-proof and bee-resistant, they offer a delightful and easy-to-maintain feeding experience for both you and your feathered friends.

These are 2 of the items in Saucer Feeders; the category page lists the rest with current stock and pricing.

Ordering, delivery and returns

Orders under $49 carry a $5.99 delivery charge; at $49 and above there is none. Orders are packed in one to three business days and travel for five to ten, so plan on six to thirteen business days between placing an order and opening the box. Everything ships from Orlando, FL, to United States addresses.

If something is not right, the return window is 30 days from delivery for unused goods in their original packaging. The Shipping Policy and the Refund and Returns Policy carry the detail, and the FAQ answers the questions that come up most often.