Georgia’s tricolored bat records cluster along the coast, around Cumberland Island National Seashore, Sapelo Island, and Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, though the species also winters in caves and old mines up in the Blue Ridge and Ridge-and-Valley country of north Georgia. That split matters: this bat needs cool, humid hibernation sites in colder months and switches to foraging over open water and marsh edges the rest of the year, so the same animal can show up in very different parts of the state depending on the season.
It’s one of the smallest bats in the country, weighing barely more than a couple of pennies, with fur banded dark, then pale, then dark again that gives it a frosted look. Its flight is weak and fluttering, almost erratic, unlike the steadier wingbeat of most bats sharing the same airspace. White-nose syndrome, a cold-loving fungus, has emptied many of the cave and mine hibernation sites this species once used by the thousands, which is part of why it now carries a Vulnerable global listing.
Georgia records run year-round, with reports rising in February and March as bats become more active while still near hibernation sites. Records track where people looked and reported, not a true count of how many bats are out there.
Full species profile
