Oklahoma mammals

Townsend's Big-eared Bat in Oklahoma

Corynorhinus townsendii

Native to Oklahoma S3 Vulnerable in Oklahoma

Not listed as nonindigenous in Oklahoma by USGS NAS; native to its Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma, by the numbers

Occasional in Oklahoma 78th most recorded of 120 mammals logged in Oklahoma

336 occurrence records

22 with iNaturalist photos

Jun 14, 2025 Last seen in Oklahoma

Records from 2000–2026.

336 total records count every Oklahoma occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 317 records with a full observation date.

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

Most sightings fall in August to September.

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

Monthly Oklahoma records (table)

Month	Records
January	4
February	39
March	9
April	27
May	8
June	7
July	35
August	71
September	63
October	10
November	26
December	18

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

Seasonality

Year-round in Oklahoma, with recorded sightings peaking in August–September.

Occurrence map

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

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Oklahoma records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monument	iNaturalist records
Wichita Mountains Wilderness North Mountain Unit	17
Quartz Mountain State Resort Park	3
Sandy Sanders Wildlife Management Area	1
CLO Lands	1
Alabaster Caverns 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 Oklahoma

County	Records
Woods County	162
Harmon County	30
Adair County	26
Blaine County	22
Woodward County	20
Comanche County	18
Major County	18
Greer County	5
Cherokee County	3
Kiowa County	3
Sequoyah County	2
Harper County	1
2 other counties	26

The complete county distribution, spread across 14 Oklahoma counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Townsend’s big-eared bats carry a NatureServe S3 vulnerable rank in Oklahoma, and the record shows one of the starkest source imbalances in this tier: 331 GBIF records against just 22 from iNaturalist, meaning cave and roost surveys, not casual sightings, document nearly everything known about this colonial cave-roosting bat here.

September alone accounts for 9 of the year’s 23 monthly-tallied sightings, close to 40 percent of the total, likely tracking survey timing at known cave and mine roosts around Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge rather than any dramatic real seasonal shift in the bat’s own behavior.

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 Oklahoma 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"