hoary bat

Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), Alberta, 2006. This is the largest species of bat in Canada and was one of my favourites to capture. Their beautiful, thick fur has white tips, and I guess when they were thinking up a name for this species, they thought that the fur resembled hoar frost. They are interesting to handle as well – super aggressive (to us and toward other bats) in the mist net, but then often very docile when you process them. They almost seemed to enjoy being petted.