Long ears set this bat apart from its Myotis relatives and suit a slow, careful hunting style around trees and broken rock rather than open-air chases. New Mexico ranks third among states for recorded sightings, behind only Colorado and California, with reports concentrated at Gila National Forest, Bandelier National Monument, and Santa Fe National Forest, all forested mountain country that fits its generalist habits.
Records climb steeply from May into July, when counts run into the hundreds, then fall to almost nothing by winter, a pattern that tracks bat activity and detection rather than a shift in where the species lives. New Mexico hasn’t assigned this species a state conservation rank, so the record count here reflects observation effort rather than any flagged concern.
Full species profile
