Date: 6/20/26 1:16 pm From: Janelle Gagnon via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] Re: Anecdotal Comments About Hummingbird Prevalence
E-Bird provides a set of state-level summaries that can be accessed here:
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/us-state-level-conservation-data-summaries/#state-data.
However, they only summarize data from 2012-2022. I took a look at the data
for Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds in CT, and over that ten-year period, there
was about a 15% increase in their population/number of reports in the
state. However, that does not address whether something has changed this
year. E-Bird also allows people to request access to a complete data set
including checklists (more information on that here:
https://science.ebird.org/en/use-ebird-data/download-ebird-data-products),
so I've requested access. Maybe someone else already has access to the
dataset and can give a better answer, but I wanted to share that e-bird
does have resources for accessing their data, and also the increase in
hummingbirds over the 2012-2022 period!
Anecdotally, I felt that I am seeing more of them this year in SE CT, so
I'm wondering if our experiences may be location-dependent. Looking at this
map (
https://science.ebird.org/en/status-and-trends/species/rthhum/abundance-map?week=1),
Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are more abundant east of 91, and the positive
trend in their abundance is more pronounced in some areas than others. If
they end up giving me access to the full data set, I'll try to take a quick
look to compare hummingbird reports over the last three years in different
areas of the state, because now you've got me curious!
On Sat, Jun 20, 2026 at 12:01 PM Steve Mayo via CTBirds <
<ctbirds...> wrote:
> I've heard many comments about fewer Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in CT, this
> season.
>
> Is there a way to investigate this? Even a very unscientific comparison of
> total eBird sightings in 2026 vs. 2025 might be interesting, but I don't
> know how to make that query.
>
> Steve Mayo
> Guilford
>
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