Alaska mammals

California Myotis in Alaska

Myotis californicus

Native to Alaska S4 Apparently Secure in Alaska

Not listed as nonindigenous in Alaska by USGS NAS; native to its Alaska range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

California Myotis in Alaska, by the numbers

Rare in Alaska 78th most recorded of 108 mammals logged in Alaska

51 occurrence records
1 with iNaturalist photos
Jul 22, 2021 Last seen in Alaska

Records from 2000–2026.

When to look for the California Myotis in Alaska

Most sightings fall in June to July.

51 Alaska occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Alaska records (table)
MonthRecords
January0
February1
March0
April1
May7
June15
July24
August0
September3
October0
November0
December0

Monthly california myotis occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Alaska, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Alaska, with recorded sightings peaking in June–July.

Occurrence map

Where California Myotis has been recorded in Alaska

51 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

51 Alaska records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Tongass National Forest 8
Misty Fjords National Monument 2
Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge 1

Protected places with the most california myotis sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Alaska

CountyRecords
Prince of Wales-Hyder County 19
Juneau County 19
Wrangell County 4
Petersburg County 4
Ketchikan Gateway County 3
Sitka County 1
Other localities 1

The complete county distribution, spread across 6 Alaska counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Alaska marks the northern limit of this bat’s range, and its reports here concentrate along the coastal fringe of the Panhandle and Southcentral Alaska, especially around Glacier Bay’s temperate rainforest, Prince William Sound, and Kenai Fjords. That’s a narrow strip of coastline compared to the bat’s much larger range through California, Nevada, and the desert Southwest.

It’s one of the smallest bats in North America, small enough to squeeze into cracks too narrow for bulkier species. By day it hides in loose bark, rock crevices, or building gaps, and after dark it flutters low and slow along shorelines and forest edges hunting beetles and other flying insects rather than coursing high through open air.

Records here run year-round but cluster from May through July, likely tracking the short window when Southeast Alaska’s coastal nights stay warm enough for steady insect activity. Records outside that window are rare rather than proof the bat leaves the state entirely.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

More mammals in Alaska in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"