A tight cluster of Cumberland Plateau sites anchors Tennessee’s big brown bat records, with Cherokee National Forest alone supplying eight sightings, several times more than Pickett State Park and Pogue Creek Canyon or Fall Creek Falls State Park, which each add two. Natchez Trace State Forest, well west of that cluster and at lower elevation, contributes a single record. Records split almost evenly between iNaturalist and GBIF, so casual sightings and formal surveys each contribute about half.
June stands out as Tennessee’s single highest month for this bat, well ahead of the broader July-through-October plateau that follows. That early-summer spike likely tracks maternity roosts, when females gather in buildings or tree cavities to raise pups and become easier for people to notice. Winter months drop close to zero, which isn’t surprising for a bat that spends cold weather tucked away in hibernation.
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