Photo Credit: Will Seiter
Eastern red bat
Lasiurus borealis
Call characteristics:
Higher frequency caller (38 - 50 kHz)
Body Length
3 5/8 - 4 5/8 in (9.3 - 11.7 cm)
Weight
1/4 - 1/2 oz
(7 - 13 g)
The eastern bat has light gray-brown fur on the upper side of its body and more whitish fur on the under side, with an orange-red face. Females are more likely to exhibit paler coloring. This species prefers to live within more remote, forested areas. Males are more likely to occur in cooler regions, with females tending to occur in warmer, lowland areas. This bat will roost amongst the foliage of deciduous or occasionally evergreen trees. In winter, this species hibernates by burrowing into leaf litter and bunch grass. Their diet consists primarily of moths but other insects such as beetles and members of Hemiptera are also featured on the menu. Females commonly have more than a single pup (baby bat), twins or triplets, but can have liters of up to five pups.
Conservation Status
Range
There are various sources for bat species range maps including IUCN, NatureServe, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ECOS, and the National Atlas of the United States (left).
Photo Credit: Lauren Lyon
Status
&
Trends
NABat utilizes monitoring data provided by a broad network of partners to support regional and range-wide inferences about changes in the distributions and abundances of bat populations facing current and emerging threats.
Information used to populate this page was obtained from the following sources:
United States Fish and Wildlife Service Environmental Conservation Online System
Bat Conservation International Bat Profiles
National Atlas of the United States. (2011). North American Bat Ranges, 1830-2008. National Atlas of the United States. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/pz329xp4277.
Taylor, M. 2019. Bats: an illustrated guide to all species. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.