The long-eared myotis turns up in 99 Washington records spread across two dozen counties on both sides of the Cascades, from Pierce, Clark, and Thurston in the west to Yakima, Columbia, and Whitman in the east, one of the more evenly distributed bats in the state atlas.
An ear for gleaning
Its ears, long enough to reach well past its nose when folded forward, suit its hunting style: rather than chasing insects through open air, the long-eared myotis plucks moths and beetles straight off bark and foliage. By day it roosts under loose bark, in snags, and among rock crevices, which fits a record that touches Mount Rainier National Park, the Wenaha-Tucannon and Mount Baker wilderness areas, and the San Juan Islands National Monument.
A summer bat in the record, a sleeper by winter
Reports arrive almost entirely between April and September, cresting in August, while the calendar from late fall through early spring is nearly blank. The long-eared myotis hibernates through the cold months, tucked into caves, mines, and deep crevices, so the quiet stretch is the animal’s own dormancy rather than a departure from the state.
Status in Washington
NatureServe ranks the long-eared myotis S4, Apparently Secure, in Washington, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
