Evening bat

Evening bats are common in the Southeast, including across Georgia, but seldom noticed. They roost in tree hollows, behind loose bark and in the walls and attics of buildings, and in summer females gather in maternity colonies that can number from a handful to several hundred.

They begin hunting in early evening over clearings, fields, rivers and treetops. In the north, many migrate south for the winter; in the South, they stay year-round and are active on mild winter nights.

Evening bats eat beetles in large numbers, including cucumber beetles and other crop pests, and they hunt over farmland where such insects are plentiful.

They are also a reminder of how many of our bats have come to depend on buildings. As old hollow trees disappear, colonies move into barns, churches and houses, and a building with bats in it is often a nursery for a species that has lost its natural home.

Mating — autumn; sperm is stored over winter
Birth — late May and June, usually two pups
Nursing — mothers recognise their own pups among many in a colony
Flight — at about three weeks old
Independence — by late summer
Lifespan — a few years is typical; longevity in the wild is not well recorded

• A colony in a building should be excluded only after the pups can fly — never between May and August — or the young are trapped inside and die.
• A licensed wildlife rehabilitator or an experienced humane exclusion professional can advise on timing.
• Bat houses can offer a colony somewhere else to go.
• Never handle a bat with bare hands; bats are rabies vector species.

• Sealing bats out in summer solves the problem. It kills the pups left inside, and the smell of the dead brings a new problem.
• Bats chew into houses. Bats cannot gnaw; they use gaps that are already there.
• A small bat is a baby that has lost its mother. Adult evening bats are small; a grounded one of any size still needs a rehabilitator.

• Big brown bat
• Southeastern myotis
• Eastern red bat
• Seminole bat