Hoary bat

At a glance

Size: Body about 13 to 15 cm; wingspan up to about 40 cm
Weight: About 20 to 35 g
Habitat: Forests and wooded edges across most of the continent
Diet: Moths above all, with beetles, flies, grasshoppers and dragonflies
Active: Night, usually starting well after dark
Roost: Alone in tree foliage, a few metres up
Young: Usually two pups
Rabies vector: Yes

Identification

Key marks: Large; dense mahogany-brown fur heavily frosted with white, giving a silvery look; yellowish throat and yellow-rimmed ears
Tail membrane: Thickly furred, used as a blanket
Told apart from: Eastern red bat, which is smaller and red-orange
Told apart from: Silver-haired bat, which is black with silver tips and has a bare tail membrane
Where to look: Almost never seen roosting; most sightings are of bats flying high over open ground at night, or during migration

Behaviour

Hoary bats are solitary tree bats that spend the day hidden in the leaves near the ends of branches, usually at the forest edge. They are fast, direct fliers and hunt high over clearings, lakes and treetops, typically emerging later in the evening than most bats.

They are long-distance migrants. Many that summer in the north travel to the southern United States and Mexico for the winter, and in the Southeast, including Georgia, they are seen mostly during migration and winter.

Their calls are lower in pitch than most bats', and some are audible to people with good hearing as faint ticking.

Why they matter

Hoary bats hunt large, strong-flying insects — big moths and beetles — that smaller bats cannot manage, over open landscapes that few other predators patrol at night.

They are also a warning signal. Hoary bats are the species most often killed at wind turbines in North America, and researchers study them to work out how turbines can be operated more safely for all migrating bats.

Reproduction and lifecycle

Mating — thought to be in autumn, during migration; fertilisation is delayed until spring
Gestation — about 90 days after fertilisation
Birth — June, usually two pups
Nursing — pups cling to their mother at first, then wait in the roost while she hunts
Flight — at about four to five weeks old
Independence — by late summer
Lifespan — not well recorded in the wild

Living around people

Wind turbines are the greatest known human-caused threat to this bat.
Hoary bats seldom come near buildings, so most encounters are with a bat found on the ground during migration.
A grounded hoary bat should never be picked up with bare hands; bats are rabies vector species.
Keeping large trees at field and forest edges keeps roosting places for migrants.

Misconceptions

A big bat is a vampire bat. Vampire bats live in Latin America; the hoary bat eats insects, and its size is simply what a long-distance flier needs.
Bats hibernate in caves all winter. Hoary bats migrate instead, and winter in trees in the South.
A bat found on the ground can be put back in a tree. A grounded bat usually has something wrong with it and needs a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, not handling.

Related species

Seasonal activity

When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.

Breeding and active nests by month for this species
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Breeding	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Active nests	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Notes	Wintering bats present in the South; mostly torpid, active on mild nights	Wintering bats begin to stir	Northward migration begins	Migrants pass through the Southeast heading north	Females reach summer ranges, mostly farther north	Pups are born, usually twins	Young begin to fly at about four to five weeks old	Young are independent; migration begins in the north	Southward migration; mating is thought to happen now	Migration peaks through the Southeast	Wintering bats settle in the southern states and Mexico	Mostly torpid; active on mild evenings

Where it lives

Recorded in 85 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.

Treated as a rabies-vector species in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico City, Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, State of Mexico, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Zacatecas. There, only a certified rehabilitator may take one.

Canada

If you found one

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