Bats of the Great Dismal Swamp 



23 



O 





30 



20 



10 



10 ■■ 



-20- 



-30 



• 15 



LEGEND 

 x EMERGENCE 

 o TEMPERATURE 



20 



10 



O 



en 



Ctl 



S O N D J F 

 MONTH 



MAM 



Fig. I. Mean emergence times and temperatures for red bats {Lasiurus borealis) 

 recorded from September through May, 1983-1 986, in the Great Dismal Swamp. 

 Numbers on graph represent total days sampled per month. Positive values 

 represent emergence times (minutes) after sunset; negative values are emergence 

 times before sunset. 



buildings along the shores of Lake Drummond may have provided 

 excellent roosting areas for this bat. Since the creation of the GDSNWR 

 in 1974, most of those structures have been demolished for esthetic 

 reasons and for public safety. Therefore, it is likely that absence of little 

 brown bats is associated with loss of buildings. By contrast, Keen's 

 myotis is a less gregarious species that sometimes roosts under the loose 

 bark of trees (Barbour and Davis 1969), which increases the possibility 

 that this bat still exists within the Dismal Swamp. 



Another species that could occur in the vicinity is the northern 

 yellow bat, Lasiurus intermedius H. Allen. At present, the only Virginia 



