North Dakota’s records for the eastern red bat number just 9, the thinnest count among the state’s bat overlays. That’s not surprising for a solitary, leaf-mimicking bat working land at the edge of its range.
A leaf-disguised bat in cottonwood country
Eastern red bats roost alone in tree foliage, wrapped in their own furred tail membrane so they read as a curled dead leaf rather than an animal. That habit needs dense deciduous canopy, and in North Dakota the closest match is the cottonwood-and-box-elder gallery forest lining the Little Missouri River through Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Little Missouri National Grassland, plus the wooded shoreline draws around Lake Sakakawea. Away from those river corridors, the state’s open prairie offers this bat little to roost in.
Records run only through the warm months
Every one of the state’s records falls between June and October, with nothing the rest of the year. Eastern red bats don’t hibernate in caves like most North American bats; they migrate south each fall and only pass through or briefly settle in a place like North Dakota during the warm season. A record that goes quiet by November fits a bat that’s already left for the winter rather than one still hiding somewhere nearby.
Status in North Dakota
NatureServe lists the eastern red bat SNR, unranked, in North Dakota rather than assigning it a numeric rank. It’s native to its North Dakota range, though its foliage-roosting habits and edge-of-range presence here keep it one of the state’s least-documented bats.
Full species profile
