Little brown myotis roost in caves, mines, and building crevices, and Deer Flat and Camas National Wildlife Refuges sit along the kind of slow water and dense insect life this bat needs for foraging after dark. Idaho’s 126 records come entirely from GBIF specimen and survey data rather than iNaturalist photos, likely because most sightings here trace back to biologists checking hibernacula and maternity colonies rather than casual encounters.
Records cluster hard in July and August, with August alone accounting for 79 of the 126, but that’s more likely when survey crews are counting bats than when the population itself peaks. NatureServe ranks the species S3, Vulnerable, in Idaho, a step up in concern from what its rare statewide record count alone would suggest.
Nationally this bat crashed from one of the most frequently recorded species in North America to globally Endangered after a cold-loving fungus called white-nose syndrome reached hibernating colonies starting in 2006. That fungus has been slower to reach western states like Idaho than the East.
Full species profile
