Lucy Myotis

My husband used his canon d40 with a 300mm lens.

HI Lauren - we never know what happens to them before they get brought to us. We can make educated guesses, but they are just guesses. We think this guy may be a young bat that wasn't fat enough to go into hibernation and got caught outside after the insects had disappeared. Or he could have been evicted from a building where he was hibernating. Bat researchers are now speculating that Northern Long Ear bats may hibernate in buildings.

Hi Maria. We never know how they find their way into houses, but we know that around here big brown bats use attics and end louvers for summer colonies and basements for winter hibernation. From either point they have access to building interiors. This bat appears to be in good shape, so she will be released when the weather is appropriate.

thanks for asking. often as winter sets in, big brown bats are still active on the landscape. sometimes they get caught outside in unsuitable places or accidentally end up inside buildings. young of the year can run out of gas and become grounded. they come into our rehabilitation facility for a check up, hydration, and a meal or two before we release them or set them up for overwintering with us. this guy was just in a bad spot with a winter storm approaching. he's fine, so he'll be released soon.

Hello Marta--the bat is still in rehabilitation. We are hopeful his wound will heal soon and that he will make a full recovery.

Hi Juan. It is an insectivore. Almost all the species native to the US are insectivorous, and in Virginia, all of them are insectivorous.

Hi--from your location and the size of this bat, I think it's a big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). They are our local 'window bats'. Evening bats are about half that size and aren't known to hang out in windows in this area. And thanks for adding it to the North American Bat Tracker mission, along with all the other missions!

Thank you! I have a hard time with ducks, so I call most of my sightings 'not a mallard'. It's nice to know at least one species by sight.

Thanks for adding your bat!

It's a big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). I'm certain of it based on size, coloration, facial features, and the fact it's the most common species we care for at The Save Lucy Campaign so we recognize them when we see them!

Anything with teeth will bite! Especially when they're so small and we're so big. They are quite rightly terrified when we handle them. However, bats aren't aggressive and they are very intelligent, so if you leave them alone, they won't bite.

We rescue and rehabilitate bats, so we handle them with care and let them go as soon as possible.