Big brown bat records in New Mexico spike hard in June and July, when nearly two-thirds of the state’s 180 records were logged; the rest of the year sits close to empty. That fits a species that gathers in summer maternity roosts and disperses into hibernation through the colder months, rather than being genuinely scarce outside summer.
Gila National Forest and Bandelier National Monument anchor the small number of named locations, pairing pine-oak canyon country with the cliff dwellings and volcanic mesas around Bandelier, both places offering the caves, cliffs, and old buildings this bat readily roosts in.
NatureServe ranks the species S5, Secure, in New Mexico, the top rank on the scale, consistent with a bat recorded broadly across the state’s forests and canyon country.
Full species profile
