Where do Bar Harbor hummingbirds go?
Arrive: Late May
Leave: Late Sept
Winter: Yucatán, Costa Rica, Nicaragua
Best viewing: Shore Path (Bar Harbor Maine) and Schoodic Peninsula.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds that summer in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park migrate to Central America each fall, often crossing the Gulf of Mexico in a single nonstop flight.
In season, as you start along the Shore Path, right about the time you are in front of the Bar Harbor Inn & Spa, you see some amazing gardens along the path that look like local sometimes nearby resident Martha Stewart herself tends to them. Stop, look closely and you will almost always see humming birds feasting on the flowers here. They are amazing, showstoppers for everyone from locals to tourists from away.
This is one of the best low-key things to do in Bar Harbor and Acadia during the summer.
These little ready for instagram birds like the one above in our photo amazingly follow the Bar Harbor tourist calendar almost to a tee. They arrive in late May, or early June, and by October they are gone. So where do these Acadia area flying summer residents spend their winters?
Who are the Ruby Throated Humming Birds?
🪶Fewest feathers of any bird about 940. They get cold easily, just like summah folks.
⚡ Top flight speed in level flight is only 30 mph they look faster than that, but they obey Bar Harbor speed limits.
🕷️ They are tiny assasins. They get their protein from small insects and spiders, which they snatch out of the air with unsettling precision.
🌺 On the Schoodic Peninsula, the Bold Coast and Acadia they're drawn to tubular native wildflowers: Cardinal Flower, Trumpet Honeysuckle, native bee balms
The Bar Harbor Arrival
🗓️ First Ruby-throats hit the Maine coast in mid to late May
👨 Males arrive first to stake out feeding territories, females follow shortly after
🌸 Pro Tip: Put your feeders out in late April, or have your early season gardens ready, the first wave arrives exhausted from a migration that started in Central America and a feeder or flower in the right spot is a genuine act of hospitality
☀️ Through June, July, and August they work the Schoodic peninsula hard this is peak hummingbird season
The September Goodbye
🍂 Southern migration begins late August
📅 Most Ruby-throats are gone from Downeast Maine by the last days of September.
👀 Keep your feeders up through October anyway migrants from further north (Canadians) may pass through. And occasionally a hummingbird blown off course from the west shows up at a Maine feeder in October or November. They're not supposed to be here. They show up anyway. Maine does that to birds.
The Journey South is Bonkers 🤯
After leaving Maine, Ruby throated Hummingbirds do not rush. They fly low, in daylight, feeding as they go. On a typical day they might cover only 20 miles, grazing through flower patches all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.And then everything changes.To reach their wintering grounds in Central America, they cross 500 miles of open water in a single flight. No stops. No islands. Just a bird that weighs less than a nickel flying for 20 hours straight over the Gulf of Mexico.To pull this off they double their body fat before departure with many insect feasts.A hummingbird that spent July hovering over the Shore Path gardens in Bar Harbor will spend January somewhere in the Yucatán. Nice life.
Where Do Humming Birds Winter?
3 places Bar Harbor hummingbird go in January 🌎
🇲🇽 The Yucatán Peninsula: Mexico: the first landfall after crossing the Gulf, and one of the most densely populated wintering areas. Warm, flower-rich, and about as different from a Maine winter as you can get.
🇳🇮 Coffee farms in Nicaragua: Turns out they like coffee? Biologists have documented literally hundreds of bird species, including Ruby-throats, wintering on a single 90-acre environmentally friendly coffee farm. Your Bar Harbor hummingbird may be spending January in a coffee plantation. Jealous we have become.
🇨🇷 Costa Rica: the southern edge of the Ruby-throat's winter range. A bird that summered on the Schoodic Peninsula can end up 3,000 miles away in a tropical forest near the Panama border.
🌡️ Although that's changing. Over the past few decades some Ruby-throats have stopped crossing the Gulf entirely, many winter in Florida now, some as far north as South Carolina.
Climate change is quietly redrawing the map, and hummingbirds are apparently paying attention.
It is amazing how the patterns of these birds resemble so many humans from away who come to our region in the summer and migrate to the same places in the winter.
A Simple Hummingbird Experience Day (Schoodic - Bar Harbor - Back to Wild Rose at Schoodic)
If you want to turn this into a perfect half-day:
- Walk the Bar Harbor Shore Path (morning or golden hour for 😙🤌)
- Watch hummingbirds in the gardens near the Bar Harbor Inn
- Grab lunch at Limon Grill
- Take the ferry back to Schoodic (Winter Harbor)
- Catch the Island Explorer and end your day back near Wild Rose Maine on the Schoodic Peninsula, where it’s quieter and hummingbirds still move through the nearby coastal gardens.
How to get there from here.
Map
If you're staying on Schoodic, at Wild Rose, you don’t need to go far for hummingbird viewings, as they regularly move through the surrounding gardens and along the nearby Schoodic Scenic Byway, especially in June through September.
Another option, take the Island Hopper along the byway if you want to go car free. Take the Bar Harbor Ferry back to Bar Harbor.
FAQ
Are hummingbirds common in Bar Harbor and Acadia?
Yes, the Shore Path gardens near the Bar Harbor Inn are the can't miss spot. Keep your eyes open and slow down. However, anywhere you see flowers blooming in the region you are bound to spot a humming bird if you stare long enough.
When is the best time to see hummingbirds in Acadia?
June through August is peak. By the time the foliage turns in October, they are long gone south. Low key, mid September is also prime viewing because the birds are feasting for their upcoming long journey.
What hummingbird species are in Maine?
The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only breeding species in all of eastern North America. Occasionally a late leaving Hummingbird from the west shows up as a stray in fall.
Should I put out a hummingbird feeder near Acadia?Yes. Four parts water, one part plain white sugar. No red dye needed, the red feeder itself is enough to attract them. Put it out late April, take it down after October.
Should I feed a humming bird watermelon like in the video?
Eh, we are going to side with no on this one. If you must, please make sure the watermelon isn't full of mold or rotting, that can kill our friends.
Links
Bob Duchesne, Good Birding
Doug Hitchcox
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