Tennessee has only 9 southeastern myotis records from 2000 to 2026, all of them in GBIF and all from West Tennessee. Gibson County holds 5 and Hardin County 4, and Shiloh National Military Park, in Hardin County, is the only named place, with 4. This is a bat of bottomland hardwood and slow, dark water, and West Tennessee’s river bottoms are where it belongs in the state.
The bottomland advantage
The Hatchie is one of the last big unchannelized rivers in the region, and its swampy, forested bottom is exactly what this bat needs: hollow trees and caves for roosting, still sloughs and oxbows to hunt over. Where the river still floods its woods, this bat still has a home.
Nine records, May to October
The nine records are spread thinly from May through October, two a month at most, too few to show a seasonal peak. This species often raises twins, a rarity among American bats, so late-summer skies over a good bottomland can hold a lot of new wings. Winter records are absent because these bats hibernate deep in caves and hollow trees where nobody is counting noses.
Status in Tennessee
NatureServe ranks the southeastern myotis S3, vulnerable, in Tennessee. It’s native, and its dependence on big, intact bottomland makes it a quiet indicator: where the river forest is healthy enough to hold this bat, it’s usually healthy for nearly everything else that lives there too.
