New Mexico mammals

Townsend's Big-eared Bat in New Mexico

Corynorhinus townsendii

Native to New Mexico S3 Vulnerable in New Mexico

Not listed as nonindigenous in New Mexico by USGS NAS; native to its New Mexico range.

IUCN Red List status

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Photo: Josh Weaver · CC BY 4.0Townsend's big-eared bat roosting on a cave wallPhoto: Brandon McCracken · CC BY 4.0Townsend's big-eared bats tucked into a rock crevicePhoto: Hajenga Jeff, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Public domainCluster of hibernating Virginia big-eared bats on a cave ceilingPhoto: Stihler Craig, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Public domainVirginia big-eared bat hanging from a stone wallPhoto: Pinnacles National Park · CC BY 4.0Townsend's big-eared bat roosting in a rocky crevice

Photo: Josh Weaver · CC BY 4.0Townsend's big-eared bat roosting on a cave wallPhoto: Brandon McCracken · CC BY 4.0Townsend's big-eared bats tucked into a rock crevicePhoto: Hajenga Jeff, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Public domainCluster of hibernating Virginia big-eared bats on a cave ceilingPhoto: Stihler Craig, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Public domainVirginia big-eared bat hanging from a stone wallPhoto: Pinnacles National Park · CC BY 4.0Townsend's big-eared bat roosting in a rocky crevice

Townsend's Big-eared Bat in New Mexico, by the numbers

Occasional in New Mexico 117th most recorded of 176 mammals logged in New Mexico

442 occurrence records

43 with iNaturalist photos

May 31, 2026 Last seen in New Mexico

Records from 2000–2026.

442 total records count every New Mexico occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 439 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Townsend's Big-eared Bat in New Mexico

Most sightings fall in June to July.

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

Monthly New Mexico records (table)

Month	Records
January	56
February	5
March	22
April	28
May	48
June	58
July	88
August	36
September	48
October	13
November	25
December	12

Monthly townsend's big-eared bat occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in New Mexico, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in New Mexico, with recorded sightings peaking in June–July, with a smaller rise in January.

Occurrence map

Where Townsend's Big-eared Bat has been recorded in New Mexico

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 New Mexico records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monument	iNaturalist records
Cibola National Forest	20
Aztec Ruins National Monument	8
State Trust Land	5
El Malpais National Monument	2
Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument	2
Bandelier National Monument	1
Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument	1
Sugarite Canyon State Park	1

Protected places with the most townsend's big-eared 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 New Mexico

County	Records
Socorro County	62
Hidalgo County	59
Lincoln County	44
Grant County	41
Otero County	40
Bernalillo County	34
Eddy County	33
Catron County	22
Santa Fe County	21
Doña Ana County	13
Sierra County	13
San Juan County	12
12 other counties	48

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

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is the clearest match between place and biology in this record. Townsend’s big-eared bat is a cave-roosting species, and the park’s limestone passages are exactly the kind of shelter it needs. Carson National Forest and White Sands National Park round out the wider pattern of forest and desert-edge country the bat also uses while foraging.

New Mexico’s NatureServe rank is S3, Vulnerable, a real conservation concern even though the IUCN lists the species globally as Least Concern. Cave-roosting bats are especially sensitive to disturbance at hibernation and maternity sites, which makes that state-level rank worth taking seriously.

Reports peak in July and again in January, likely tracking maternity-roost counts and winter cave surveys rather than a true swing in how many bats are present. With 442 records total, the pattern reads as a survey signature, not a population count.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Full species profile Townsend's Big-eared Bat Corynorhinus townsendii Size 5.8 cm2.3 in Weight 9–11 g0.3–0.4 oz Lifespan 16 yr View the full profile

More mammals in New Mexico 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"