Townsend’s big-eared bats hold onto the caves, mines, and rock crevices of the trans-Pecos, with Texas records concentrated at Big Bend, the Guadalupe Mountains, and the Davis Mountains, the same limestone and volcanic country that shelters the undisturbed roosts this species depends on. A single disturbed cave can empty a colony for years, which makes where these records cluster more meaningful than most.
Of 168 statewide records, the large majority come from GBIF rather than casual photos, unsurprising for a bat whose whisper-quiet echolocation and cave roosting make it hard to detect without targeted surveys. Reports rise sharply into early summer, peaking in June with May and July close behind, likely tracking maternity-roost surveys when females gather in nursery colonies.
NatureServe ranks the species Vulnerable (S3) in Texas, slightly worse than its Apparently Secure (G4) global standing, underscoring how roost disturbance remains a real, specific risk to the trans-Pecos populations that anchor this species in Texas.
Full species profile
