No wonder animals hibernate. You wake up a dark November morning
only to find out it's pouring rain, even though the thermometer
reads 30 degrees. It's enough to make anyone want to go back
between the flannel sheets and set the alarm clock for May. And
this gloomy time of year is just when many animals start to
hibernate. But I'm thinking of bats, and not of the
stereotypical hibernating bear. Bats follow a similar
hibernation pattern and have settled into their winter routine
right about now. Not all of Vermont's nine species of bats
hibernate. Some migrate to warmer climates. Others do both:
migrate south, then hibernate for part of the winter there. But
Vermont's most frequently seen bats -- the two species that end
up roosting in eaves and attics -- both do hibernate in winter.
The big brown bat is the less common and the hardier of the two.
If you see a bat fluttering through the sky on a warm winter
evening, it's probably a big brown bat. Big brown bats are also
more diverse in their hibernating patter