Alaska’s little brown myotis records span Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, three very different corners of the state, from Kodiak Island’s Southwest coast through Southcentral to the Southeast Panhandle’s Inside Passage. Alaska now holds more recorded little brown myotis than any other US state, a distinction the species is fighting to keep amid a crisis wiping out colonies elsewhere.
Little brown myotis roost anywhere they find warmth and darkness, from caves and hollow trees to barns, attics, and the gaps behind building siding, with pregnant females gathering into nursery colonies each spring. At night they hunt moths, mosquitoes, and midges low over ponds and slow rivers, tracking prey by echolocation rather than sight.
Records peak from June through August, the active season between spring emergence and fall’s move into hibernation. White-nose syndrome, the cold-loving fungus that has devastated hibernating colonies across the eastern and central US, hasn’t reached Alaska yet, which is part of why the state’s colonies are being watched so closely as a stronghold for the species.
Full species profile
