Eastern small-footed myotis is one of the smallest bats in the East, and Pennsylvania’s 16 records are almost entirely GBIF entries rather than iNaturalist photos, the pattern you’d expect for a species usually documented through mist-net or hibernaculum surveys rather than casual sightings.
Reports cluster heavily in January and February, which lines up with this bat’s habit of overwintering in shallow rock crevices and talus slopes rather than deep caves, making winter survey counts a likely driver of that pattern rather than any true peak in activity. NatureServe ranks it S2, imperiled, in Pennsylvania, a step beyond its already-serious global Endangered status, so a small, image-poor record count here points to a genuinely vulnerable population, not just a hard-to-photograph one. Allegheny National Forest, Delaware Water Gap, and Ricketts Glen State Park, with their rocky slopes and forest cover, all fit the terrain this bat depends on for both roosting and hibernation.
