Texas records for Rafinesque’s big-eared bat cluster in the piney woods of East Texas, at Big Thicket, Davy Crockett National Forest, and Sabine National Forest. Those forests still hold the hollow trees, old buildings, and culverts this bat depends on for roosting, and losing that kind of cavity habitat is a big part of why the species struggles across much of its range.
NatureServe lists it G3, globally vulnerable, and S2, Imperiled, in Texas, so this isn’t just a case of few people looking. It’s a genuinely uncommon bat here and across the Southeast. Records run only 44 deep, with a June peak of 14 sightings and a strikingly recent record logged in July 2026, suggesting monitoring is still active in these forests.
