MAMMALS
MAMMALS
Tricolored Bats Continue to Be Found in Winter on Coastal Plain Bridges by Katherine Etchison, Mammalogist
I n January, NCWRC biologists con- ducted bat roost surveys at 48 bridges within the Coastal Plain region. This work is part of an effort to re-survey 120 bridges that showed presence of bats or guano in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These winter 2024 surveys mark the halfway point of the project, the objective of which is to survey all historic bridges in both the winter (January) and the active season (May) to determine if bats still use these bridges as roosts and to understand basic roosting patterns (e.g., species and number of bats pres- ent, seasonality of use, bridge types used, etc.). During the 2024 winter surveys, tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus), a species proposed for listing as endan- gered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, were found roosting under seven bridges. The surveys occurred during an unusually cold period where nightly temperatures were in the 20°F to 30°F range, so it was sur- prising to see tricolored bats roosting on bridges where they are relatively exposed to ambient conditions. Tricol- ored bats typically hibernate under- ground throughout much of their range, but subterranean habitats like
A tricolored bat roosting under an "old" bridge in January 2024 (Katherine Etchison)
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Map of historic bridges with bats or guano and NCWRC tricolored bat findings
48 2024 Wildlife Diversity Program Annual Report
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