last reviewed: 2026 August 1st
It is one of the more surprising facts about hummingbirds. You can feed them, photograph them and plant a whole garden for them. But pick up a single shed feather from your patio and keep it, and you have broken federal law.
That rule makes sense once you know why it exists. This is what the law actually protects, what it allows, and what to do in the situations where the two meet.
This article explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For a specific situation, contact your national or regional wildlife agency.
Why Hummingbirds Are Protected
In the late nineteenth century, hummingbirds were killed in enormous numbers for the fashion trade. Their iridescent skins were sold by the thousands for hats, brooches and decorative displays in Europe and North America. Many other birds were hunted the same way for their plumes.
The response was a treaty. In 1916 the United States and Great Britain, acting for Canada, signed a convention protecting migratory birds. Each country then passed its own law to put it into effect. In the United States that law is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, and in Canada it is now the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994. Later treaties brought in Mexico, Japan and the former Soviet Union.
Every hummingbird species found in the United States and Canada is covered. Most are not endangered, so the protection has nothing to do with rarity. It covers these birds because they are migratory and native, which is the whole basis of the treaty.
What the Law Prohibits
Without a permit, it is illegal to hunt, capture, kill, possess, sell, buy, barter or transport a protected bird. The prohibition extends to any part of the bird, and to its nests and eggs.
In practice, that means three things catch most people out.
Feathers. Keeping even a single naturally shed feather is prohibited. The rule is strict for a practical reason: nobody can tell a feather that dropped from a healthy bird from one taken from a bird that was killed. A blanket ban is the only rule that can be enforced.
Nests. Possessing a nest is prohibited whether or not it is still in use. An old nest found after the season is still covered. Leave it where it is, or let it weather away naturally.
Birds. Keeping a live hummingbird is prohibited, even briefly and even to help it. This is the rule most likely to affect someone acting with good intentions, and it is covered below.
What the Law Allows
Almost everything a hummingbird enthusiast actually wants to do is legal.
You can put up feeders and keep them stocked with the right nectar. You can plant flowers, add a mister and design a garden hummingbirds return to. You can watch them, photograph them, film them and record their sounds.
Repeatedly flushing a bird from its nest, or using methods that trap or stress it, moves from watching into interference. Keep a respectful distance from any active nest, and photograph from somewhere the bird can ignore you.
If You Find an Injured Hummingbird
This is where the law and good intentions most often collide.
You may pick up an injured hummingbird, place it in a ventilated container and take it promptly to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator or a veterinarian. The law allows this because its purpose is to get injured birds into professional hands quickly.
What you may not do is keep the bird to care for it yourself, however briefly. Rehabilitating a migratory bird requires a federal permit, and in most US states a state permit as well. Beyond the law, home care is one of the commonest ways well-meaning people kill the birds they are trying to save. Hummingbirds need specialised feeding many times an hour.
Our step-by-step guide to what to do with an injured hummingbird covers containment, the first minutes, and how to find a licensed rehabilitator near you.
If a Hummingbird Nests Somewhere Inconvenient
Hummingbirds sometimes build on a porch light, a wind chime or a hanging basket. Moving or destroying an active nest is prohibited in both countries, so the answer is patience.
The good news is that the wait is short. From laying to fledging usually takes about five to six weeks. The whole nesting cycle, from the first egg to the chicks leaving, is covered in detail separately. If the nest is on a light, simply stop using that light until the young have gone.
Banding and Scientific Work
Almost everything we know about how long hummingbirds live comes from banding: fitting a tiny numbered ring to a bird’s leg and recording it if it is ever caught again. That work requires capturing and handling a protected bird, which the law otherwise prohibits.
In the United States, banding permits are issued by the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory. Hummingbirds need specific additional authorisation and training beyond a general permit, because handling them safely takes particular skill. The results are what make hummingbird longevity records possible, and they are one reason the data is as reliable as it is.
Penalties in the United States
Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), most violations are misdemeanours. A misdemeanour carries a fine of up to $15,000, up to six months in prison, or both. Keeping a bird, a nest or a feather falls into this category.
A more serious offence applies to commercial activity. Knowingly taking a migratory bird with intent to sell or barter it, or actually selling or bartering one, is a felony carrying up to two years in prison. Tht MBTA text lists a $2,000 fine, but the general federal felony fine provision raises the effective maximum to $250,000.
Buying and selling items made with real hummingbird feathers is prohibited too, including antiques. The trade that the law was written to end still surfaces occasionally in old jewellery and decorations.
Accidental Killing: A Moving Target
Most readers will never need this section, but it is where the law has changed most.
Since 11 April 2025, the US Interior Department has treated the Act as covering only intentional killing. Deaths that happen incidentally, as a side effect of an otherwise lawful activity, are no longer treated as criminal. That position has been reversed three times since 2017, and a federal court struck down the same interpretation in 2020, so it may change again. A bird killed by a wind turbine would be regarded as an accidental death.
Two points matter for homeowners. First, the change concerns incidental deaths, most often from industrial activity. Second, it does not affect any of the prohibitions above. Capturing, keeping or collecting a bird, nest or feather remains fully prohibited. Reducing accidental deaths is still worth doing for the birds’ sake, and our guide to the threats hummingbirds face covers the simple steps that prevent most of them.
Hummingbirds and the Law in Canada
Canada’s Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 protects migratory birds both as populations and as individual birds, together with their nests. The practical rules for a Canadian enthusiast mirror the American ones. Feeding and watching are legal. Keeping birds, feathers or nests is not.
Canadian penalties are tiered according to how serious the offence is. For the most serious offences, an individual convicted on indictment faces a fine of up to $1,000,000, up to three years in prison, or both. On summary conviction the maximum is up to $300,000, up to six months in prison, or both. Lesser offences carry much lower maximums.
One feature of the Canadian Act is worth knowing. Where more than one bird or nest is involved, the fine can be calculated separately for each one and then added together.
For readers on the west coast, this protection covers the Anna’s Hummingbirds that now winter throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as the Rufous that arrive each spring.
State and Provincial Rules
Federal law sets a minimum, not a maximum. US states and Canadian provinces can add protections of their own, and many do, particularly for wildlife rehabilitation. If you are unsure, your state or provincial wildlife agency is the place to check.
Penalties: USA (MBTA)
| Offence level | Maximum fine | Maximum prison |
| Misdemeanour | $15,000 | 6 months |
| Felony | $250,000 (individual); $500,000 (organization) | 2 years |
Penalties: Canada (MBCA 1994)
| Offence level | Maximum fine | Maximum prison |
| Indictment — most serious, individual | $1,000,000 | 3 years |
| Summary conviction | $300,000 | 6 months |
| Lesser offences | Much lower | – |
| Multiple birds/nests | Fines totaled by bird/nests | – |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to feed hummingbirds?
Yes. Feeding hummingbirds and planting flowers for them is entirely legal in both the United States and Canada.
Can I keep a hummingbird feather I found?
No. Possessing any part of a protected bird, including a single naturally shed feather, is prohibited without a permit. Leave it where you found it.
Can I keep an old hummingbird nest?
No. Possessing a nest is prohibited even after it has been abandoned. Leave it in place or let it weather away.
Is it illegal to touch a hummingbird?
Handling one to help it is allowed. You may contain an injured bird and take it to a licensed rehabilitator. Keeping it, even briefly, is not allowed.
What is the fine for keeping a hummingbird in the US?
Most violations are misdemeanours carrying a fine of up to $15,000, up to six months in prison, or both.
What are the penalties in Canada?
They are tiered by seriousness. For the most serious offences by an individual, the maximum is $1,000,000 and three years on indictment, or $300,000 and six months on summary conviction.
Is accidentally killing a hummingbird a crime?
In the United States, not since April 2025, when federal policy changed to cover only intentional killing. That position has reversed several times since 2017 and may change again.
A hummingbird built a nest on my porch light. What can I do?
Leave it. Moving or destroying an active nest is prohibited. Stop using the light for a few weeks until the young have fledged.
Conclusion
The law protecting hummingbirds is strict in one direction and generous in the other. It forbids you to take anything, down to a single feather. It allows, and quietly encourages, everything that actually helps them: the feeder, the garden, the patience to leave a nest alone. For anyone who loves these birds, those are not really restrictions. They are the same rules a good neighbour would follow anyway.
Quiz: Hummingbird Legal Protections.
The quiz questions draw on federal statute, international treaties, and authoritative legal sources listed below:
The authoritative federal source for the MBTA’s scope, its treaty history with Canada (1916), Mexico (1936), Japan (1972) and Russia (1976), and the permit framework administered under 50 CFR 21.
The statutory text itself: misdemeanor fines up to $15,000 and/or six months, the felony provision naming $2,000 and/or two years, and the forfeiture provisions covering equipment used in commercial violations.
Congress’s own legal analysis of the Act, covering the penalty structure, the mental-state requirement, the incidental take debate, and the circuit split over whether the MBTA binds federal agencies.
Sets out the fines actually applicable to MBTA felony offences under general federal sentencing provisions: up to $250,000 for an individual and $100,000 or more for an organisation, well above the figure named in the original statute.
Accessible overview of what the Act prohibits, its history, the Deepwater Horizon enforcement case and its $100 million criminal fine, and the shifting interpretation of incidental take.
Official source for the Appendix structure. The entire hummingbird family, Trochilidae, is listed in Appendix II, regulating international commercial trade.
Canada’s Migratory Birds Convention Act framework, including the explicit prohibition on incidental take that distinguishes it from U.S. law, and the penalty ranges for individuals and corporations.