A bit about bats…
Many BC bats find roosts and shelters in tree cavities, crevices, exfoliating bark, or foliage; typically selecting the largest available old-growth trees and snags. Most bat species will move frequently among several roosts to adjust for seasonal changes in weather and in response to disturbances. When foraging or traveling, bats prefer to fly along habitat edges, with most activity concentrated in wetlands, riparian zones or within natural openings in forested areas.
Table 1. Summary of bats in the Lillooet area, British Columbiaa (PDF Aug 2012)
| Species British Columbia |
Lillooet area status | Provincial Status | Habitat comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Myotis | Confirmed | Yellow | Arid grasslands; montane forests; roosts in spaces under the bark of trees, tree cavities and mine adits |
| Western Small-footed Myotis | Confirmed | Blue | Cliffs and rock outcrops in arid valleys; roosts in small caves and abandoned mine adits; overwinters |
| Western Long-eared Myotis | Confirmed | Yellow | Arid grasslands and ponderosa pine forests and montane forests; often found at higher elevations; roosts under bark of trees, caves, mine adits; consumes spiders and insects |
| Keen’s Long-eared Myotis | Unconfirmed | Red | A rare coastal species that relies on temperate old-growth rainforest to survive |
| Little Brown Myotis | Confirmed | Yellow | Arid grasslands, ponderosa pine and boreal forest; roosts in tree cavities, caves and under the bark of trees |
| Northern Long-eared Myotis | Unconfirmed | Blue | Some recent records from Cariboo in areas of dense coniferous forests and mixed aspen spruce |
| Fringed Myotis | Confirmed | Blue | Deserts, arid grasslands and dry forests of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir; roosting habits unknown |
| Long-legged Myotis | Confirmed | Yellow | Arid rangelands, montane forests; roosts under bark of trees, snags and mine tunnels |
| Yuma Myotis | Confirmed | Yellow | Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests and arid grasslands; roosts in caves and trees |
| Western Red Bat | Unknown | Unknown | Very little information available for BC, riparian species that roosts in foliage |
| Hoary Bat | Confirmed | Yellow | Arboreal habitat generalist; roosts in coniferous and deciduous trees, tree cavities; migratory |
| Silver-haired Bat | Confirmed | Yellow | Forest and grassland; roosts under bark of trees, cavities, and tree truck crevices; may overwinter and has been noted to hibernate in a Douglas-fir snag – most migrate south. Especially vulnerable to deforestation and snag removal |
| Big Brown Bat | Confirmed | Yellow | Arid grassland and forests; roosts in dead ponderosa pines; may overwinter in BC |
| Spotted Bat | Confirmed | Blue | Arid desert and grasslands, open ponderosa pine forests, hayfields and marshes adjacent to lakes; roosts in crevices of steep cliff faces; little known about winter biology |
| Townsend’s Big-eared Bat | Confirmed | Blue | Arid grasslands and coniferous forests; roosts in limestone caves and mine adits; in Canada restricted to BC; overwinters in BC |
| Pallid Bat | Unknown | Red | Arid desert and ponderosa pine forests adjacent to cliff faces; roosts in tree cavities (preference for ponderosa pines), caves, mine adits and crevices in cliffs; hunts over open grasslands with big sage and rabbit brush |
aprepared by V. Birch-Jones and K. G. Wright of Lillooet BC, February 2002, for MSRM for Lillooet LRMP. Updated Nov 2002 with comments from Leah Ramsay, Program Zoologist, BC Conservation Data Centre, and Lisa Wilkinson, Regional Endangered Species Specialist, Alta. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Updated August 2010 with comments from Mike Sarell RPBio. and J. Hobbs MSc. RPBio.
Updated Aug 2012 Ed West Ph.D
Monitoring for Pallid Bat in progress - summer / autumn 2012