What is the Habitat of a Red Bat?

There are two distinct species of red bat, the eastern red bat ("Lasiurus borealis") and the western (or desert) red bat ("Lasiurus blossevillii"). The eastern red bat is the most common, and is found throughout North America east of the Rockies. The desert red bat is found only in the western part of the continent. Both species like to live in deciduous trees in forest environments.

  1. Types

    • It is often difficult to tell the difference between eastern red bats and western red bat. Both are reddish brown in color, 3.75 to 5 inches in size and have a wingspan of about 13 inches. Western red bats are slightly smaller than eastern red bats. Because of their similar appearance, the best way to tell the two species apart is by where they are found.

    Geography

    • The eastern red bat can be found from the Atlantic coast as far west as the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and from southern Canada in the north to northern Mexico in the south. The western red bat is found mostly in the western part of North America and South America, ranging from southern British Columbia in Canada, through much of the western United States, down through Mexico and Central America, and to Argentina and Chile in South America.

    Features

    • Unlike many other bat species, red bats usually live alone, or in small family units, not in colonies. Both kinds of red bats are migratory, gathering together in larger groups and flying south during the colder weather and north in summer. They eat insects, mostly moths and beetles. They're fast--some have been clocked at 40 miles per hour.

    Habitat

    • Unlike many types of bats, eastern and western red bats don't live in caves and other dark places. Instead, they prefer to live in forests, roosting in broad-leaf trees such as walnuts, oaks and willows. They forage--eating mostly flying insects such as moths, ants and beetles--along the edges of pastures, crop lands, river banks and even urban areas.

    Population

    • The eastern red bat is one of the most common kinds of bats in North America, though they are not as numerous as they were before European settlement. western red bats, on the other hand, are less plentiful, and are considered "at risk" in several states, because of human development, the use of pesticides and the loss of riverbank habitat.