Townsend’s big-eared bats are one of West Virginia’s most cave-dependent species, and NatureServe’s S2 imperiled rank reflects how vulnerable a colonial cave-roosting bat is to disturbance at even a single hibernaculum or maternity site. Most of the 47 records here, 43 of them, come from GBIF rather than casual photographs, meaning cave surveys, not people spotting bats in flight, account for nearly everything documented in the state.
Records peak sharply in June (11 sightings) and July (7), together more than a third of the year’s total, matching the maternity-colony season when survey teams count roosting females and pups at known cave sites, while the near-absence in August, zero records, likely reflects a gap in survey timing rather than a real pause in bat activity.
Full species profile
