North Carolina’s occurrence databases hold 150 big brown bat records, most concentrated around the reservoirs and mixed forest of the central Piedmont: Jordan Lake, Falls Lake, and William B. Umstead State Park.
Hunting the edge where lake meets forest
A big brown bat needs open water for insects and tree cover or structures for roosting nearby, and the Piedmont’s built reservoirs supply both close together. At Jordan Lake and Falls Lake, the bat forages the shoreline at dusk, working the margin between open water and the surrounding pine and hardwood forest where insects concentrate. That edge habitat, more than any single spot, is what draws records into a tight cluster around the Piedmont’s reservoir system rather than spreading evenly across the state.
Roosting in buildings where caves are scarce
This bat roosts in tree hollows and rock crevices as readily as in attics, barns, and other buildings, and the Piedmont’s crystalline bedrock offers few natural caves to fall back on. Without the limestone karst found farther west, big brown bats around the Piedmont’s reservoirs lean more heavily on buildings and bridges for both summer roosts and winter shelter than they might need to elsewhere.
Status in North Carolina
NatureServe ranks the big brown bat S5, secure, and it’s native to North Carolina. Records here run every month with a sharp rise from June into August, tracking the months when young bats are flying and insect activity peaks across Piedmont summer nights.
Full species profile
