Bat ID California
Can anyone help with the ID of this bat, it was taken in Monterey in January. It is a largish bat with characteristic wing markings. My field guides don’t really help me, so any help appreciated
Thanks
Mark
5 Comments
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Don Roberson
Hi Mark — I live in Monterey County and thought that this immediately looked like Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus), based on size/shape, and an apparent large head with largeish rounded ears, and by what I think I see as a very short stub of a ‘free’ tail (much shorter than freetailed bats but pretty much diagnostic, I think). I don’t see anything useful in the pelage; it looks all dark brown to me (not like Hoary Bat, in my opinion; further, Hoary Bat is rare here but Big Brown Bat is very common, and about the only bat you would likely see in January). Cheers, Don Roberson
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Vladimir Dinets
Hi Don,
It is, indeed, unusual to see Hoary in winter, but the wing pattern is diagnostic: http://research.ifas.ufl.edu/sites/default/files/hoary-bat-hires.jpg
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Curtis Hart
That is not a Big Brown. Those wing markings are typical of the genus Lasiurus in North America. You can see a picture of the wings of a Big Brown and Hoary Bat in the Kaufman mammal field guide.
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Vladimir Dinets
Hoary bat, Lasiurus cinereus