Ohio mammals

Northern Hoary Bat in Ohio

Lasiurus cinereus

Native to Ohio SNR Unranked in Ohio

Not listed as nonindigenous in Ohio by USGS NAS; native to its Ohio 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 Ohio, by the numbers

Occasional in Ohio 43rd most recorded of 75 mammals logged in Ohio

44 occurrence records
30 with iNaturalist photos

Records from 2000–2026.

44 total records count every Ohio occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the monthly chart covers the 43 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Northern Hoary Bat in Ohio

Most sightings fall in June to August.

43 Ohio occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Ohio records (table)
MonthRecords
January0
February0
March0
April1
May4
June8
July13
August10
September3
October4
November0
December0

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

Seasonality

Year-round in Ohio, with recorded sightings peaking in June–August.

Occurrence map

Where Northern Hoary Bat has been recorded in Ohio

44 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

44 Ohio records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Wayne National Forest 2
Kiser Lake State Park 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 Ohio

CountyRecords
Franklin County 7
Cuyahoga County 6
Summit County 4
Logan County 3
Hocking County 3
Lorain County 2
Lake Erie County 2
Warren County 1
Morrow County 1
Hancock County 1
Greene County 1
Champaign County 1
12 other counties 12

The complete county distribution, spread across 24 Ohio counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

The hoary bat is one of North America’s largest bats, and also one of its longest-distance migrants. Ohio’s 44 records, gathered mostly around Wayne National Forest and other wooded sites, run completely dry from November through March, a gap that lines up with the species wintering far south of the state rather than any drop in local activity.

Records climb through late spring and peak in summer, when the bats are here to breed and raise young in tree canopy roosts before heading south again. Ohio hasn’t assigned the species a numeric NatureServe rank (SNR, unranked), so how secure its Ohio presence really is stays an open question.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

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 Ohio 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"