Idaho mammals

Northern Hoary Bat in Idaho

Lasiurus cinereus

Native to Idaho S3 Vulnerable in Idaho

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

Hoary bat in flight against blue sky, wings spread to show its yellow throat patch and heavily frosted furHoary bat roosting in a tree bark hollow, frosted fur blending with the surrounding lichenHoary bat hanging from an exposed branch in daylight, showing its full frosted coatHoary bat roosting among grapevine foliage, a typical solitary tree roost
Photo: Gjon Hazard · CC BY 4.0Hoary bat in flight against blue sky, wings spread to show its yellow throat patch and heavily frosted furPhoto: Nelson Balcar · CC BY 4.0Hoary bat roosting in a tree bark hollow, frosted fur blending with the surrounding lichenPhoto: Konshau Duman · CC BY 4.0Hoary bat hanging from an exposed branch in daylight, showing its full frosted coatPhoto: Kalvin Chan · CC BY 4.0Hoary bat roosting among grapevine foliage, a typical solitary tree roost

Northern Hoary Bat in Idaho, by the numbers

Rare in Idaho 89th most recorded of 123 mammals logged in Idaho

16 occurrence records
11 with iNaturalist photos

Records from 2000–2026.

When to look for the Northern Hoary Bat in Idaho

Most sightings fall in August to September.

16 Idaho occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence. Based on a small number of dated records; the seasonal pattern may not be representative.

Monthly Idaho records (table)
MonthRecords
January0
February0
March0
April0
May0
June1
July0
August6
September5
October3
November1
December0

Monthly northern hoary bat occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Idaho, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Idaho, with recorded sightings peaking in August–September.

Occurrence map

Where Northern Hoary Bat has been recorded in Idaho

16 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

16 Idaho records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Snake River Plain 1

Protected places with the most northern hoary bat 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 Idaho

CountyRecords
Canyon County 2
Bannock County 2
Owyhee County 1
Twin Falls County 1
Shoshone County 1
Elmore County 1
Lemhi County 1
Nez Perce County 1
Franklin County 1
Fremont County 1
Bonner County 1
Caribou County 1
Other localities 2

The complete county distribution, spread across 12 Idaho counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Northern hoary bat has only 16 recorded sightings in Idaho, clustered loosely around Deer Flat and Camas national wildlife refuges and the Snake River corridor. As the smaller, boreal-adapted counterpart to the widespread hoary bat, it roosts solitary in tree foliage, a habit that keeps it out of the colony counts other Idaho bats show up in.

Records run from June through October with no strong single peak, too thin to describe a confident seasonal pattern. NatureServe ranks the species S3, Vulnerable, in Idaho, reflecting a real but genuinely uncommon population.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist.

Hoary bat in flight against blue sky, wings spread to show its yellow throat patch and heavily frosted fur
Full species profile Northern Hoary Bat Lasiurus cinereus Size 13–15 cm5.1–5.9 in Weight 26 g0.9 oz Lifespan Up to 14 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Idaho 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"