Male Indiana Bat 
99 
throughout the night, often until after 0200 hours. On 2 of 19 nights, 
the bat ceased foraging for approximately one hour around 2300 hours. 
Foraging habitat for bat #458 encompassed approximately 625 ha. 
A small, two-lane road and an unimproved forest service road transected 
the habitat. A small first-order stream ran parallel to the two-lane 
road. Foraging habitat was an 80-year-old, mature oak-hickory mixed 
deciduous forest with a conifer component (Table 1). When foraging 
in the 625 ha habitat, this bat spent the majority of its time flying 
in an elliptical pattern at canopy height. The ellipse was transected 
by a small two-lane road, which was occasionally used as a flyway. 
Bat #458 was also observed flying in an elliptical pattern along a 
ridge containing a patch of mature hemlocks. On two occasions at 
dusk, the bat was observed foraging along a water course within 0.5 
km of the roost site. In Missouri, Laval et al. (1977) found that male 
M. sodalis forage in elliptical patterns among treetops of dense forest 
along ridges and hillsides instead of over water. Humphrey et al. (1977) 
also reported M. sodalis foraging around tree canopies. 
Table 1. Diameter at breast height (DBH), density, and relative frequency 
of tree species within the foraging area of a male M. sodalis in Bath County, 
Virginia. A total of 140 trees were sampled within the foraging habitat. 
Tree Species 
Mean (: 
DBH 
t SE) 
( cm ) 
Range 
Density Relative 
(Trees/ha) Frequency 
Acer rubrum 
13.3 
+ 
2.0 
33 - 
8 
66 
0.091 
Carya glabra 
22.5 
+ 
1.3 
24 - 
20 
17 
0.027 
C. ovata 
20.0 
+ 
3.0 
30 - 
14 
28 
0.045 
C. tomentosa 
30.0 
+ 
3.5 
38 - 
21 
50 
0.082 
Cornus florida 
11.8 
+ 
1.0 
17 - 
9 
50 
0.064 
Fagus grandifolia 
17.3 
+ 
4.3 
38 - 
10 
33 
0.045 
Juglans nigra 
19.5 
+ 
3.3 
27 - 
10 
28 
0.027 
Liriodendron tulipifera 
37.8 
+ 
8.8 
84 - 
9 
50 
0.082 
Pinus strobus 
23.5 
+ 
2.5 
46 - 
9 
89 
0.091 
Quercus rubra 
40.0 
+ 
3.8 
72 - 
9 
94 
0.127 
Q. alba 
36.8 
+ 
4.0 
52 - 
24 
39 
0.055 
Tilia spp. (unidentified) 
23.0 
+ 
2.5 
32 - 
14 
39 
0.064 
Tsuga canadensis 
28.3 
+ 
3.8 
64 - 
8 
111 
0.136 
other 1 
12.5 
+ 
1.8 
20 - 
8 
44 
0.064 
1 Includes infrequent occurrence of Acer pennsylvanicwn, Betula lenta, Carpinus caroliniana, 
and Ulmus rubra. 
