"On a recent afternoon, deep in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and less than an hour’s drive from Shenandoah National Park, a tricolored bat was moving its mouth rapidly, as if it was trying to chew something. In fact, it was echolocating, using its mouth to shape and direct pulses of ultrasonic sound as a way to survey its surroundings.
In this case, its immediate environment was Bat Conservation & Rescue of Virginia, a private wildlife rehabilitation center. The little bat fit tidily in the palm of Leslie Sturges, founder of the center and an unabashed bat enthusiast. Sturges is caring for the bat because it is currently unable to gain sufficient altitude in flight, in the hope that someday it could be released into the wild.
This was a rare chance to get an up-close view of a Shenandoah bat species that is hard to spot in the wild for two reasons: One, the tricolored bat is the least common of the park’s nine known bat species. And two, as a state-listed endangered species, and one that has been recommended for federal endangered listing, the tricolored bat’s numbers are shrinking at an alarming rate.
Although they are often misunderstood or even feared, bats are widely variable creatures that provide essential ecosystem benefits, from eating insects (and providing natural pest control in agricultural areas) to pollinating plants in certain regions. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, bats save the U.S. corn industry more than $1 billion per year in crop damage and pesticide costs, in just one example."
Kim O'Connell reports for National Parks Traveler March 11, 2026.
