Rafinesque’s big-eared bat records in Mississippi cluster in the hardwood forests of the state’s hill country, in the mature, hollow-trunked timber near Holly Springs and Tombigbee National Forests and the bottomland hardwoods bordering Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge.
Those oversized ears let it glean moths and other insects straight off leaves and bark instead of chasing them through open air, and by day it roosts in hollow trees, abandoned buildings, or culverts where it stays hidden from weather and predators.
With just 45 records logged and a NatureServe rank of S3, vulnerable in Mississippi, most sightings cluster into June with quieter months elsewhere, a pattern that likely tracks when surveyors run acoustic detectors more than any real shift in the bat’s own activity.
