This dark, frost-tipped bat is recorded across wooded parts of North Carolina from the mountains to the coast, wherever mature trees with loose bark and cavities sit near streams, ponds, or other water. Rather than clustering in one region the way a habitat specialist would, its records track the presence of that specific roost structure statewide.
It roosts alone under peeling bark or in tree cavities by day, then hunts moths, beetles, and other night-flying insects over forest openings and water edges after dusk. Because it migrates long distances and often passes through or overwinters in an area rather than settling permanently, a North Carolina record can represent a bat just passing through on its way south.
The state’s records peak in December and January, unusual for a species elsewhere associated with spring and fall migration, and likely reflects wintering individuals detected during the colder months rather than a true activity peak. Loss of large hollow trees and dead snags along streams remains the main pressure on the roost sites this bat depends on here.
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