Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis). Photograph courtesy of the US Forest Service, USDA.
The red bats, also referred to as the Eastern red bats, are forest dwelling, solitary bats and are one of the few North American species that roost in the open in trees (Burt and Grossenheider, 1996). They typically live alone or in a small family group of mother and young, and tend to live in variety of types of lowland forest habitats (Tuttle, 2003). They do not use sites such as cave, mine tunnels, or similar sites often frequented by other species. Roosting sites are commonly in tree foliage or Spanish moss, where the bats are concealed, resembling dead leaves. This bat is migratory and moves northward in spring and southward in fall (it is considered a year-round resident of eastern Texas but may only be a summer migrant in the western part of the state) (Schmidly, 1977). These bats winter in southern United States, Mexico, Bermuda, the Antilles, and perhaps even farther south (Davis and Schmidly, 1994).
A. Ruth Huckaby, Graduate Student, BIOL 5301-Natural History of the Chihuahuan Desert, June, 2006.
Huckaby Update: 22 June 2006
Some authorities recognize Eastern and Western red bats as being different species (L. borealis and L. blossevillii, respectively). See the discussion and references in BISON-M (Biota Information System Of New Mexico), using the "Database Query" to get to this species. When so recognized, L. blossevillii occurs from Trans-Pecos Texas westward.
Burt, W. H. and R. P. Grossenheider. 1976. A field guide to the mammals. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
Davis, W. B. and D. J. Schmidly. 1994. The mammals of Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife Press, Austin.
Schmidly, D. J. 1977. The mammals of Trans-Pecos Texas including Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.
Tuttle, M. D. (2003). Texas bats. Bat Conservation International, Inc., Austin.
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. A wealth of information.
Last Update: 1 March 2008.