Western Pipistrelle

Western Pipistrelle
Pipistrellus hesperus

No photograph available

Wingspan 7 – 9”; Body length: 1 1/2 – 1 3/4”
Diet: small insects

The western pipistrelle is the smallest bat in the United States, and it is small indeed: Adults weigh somewhere between five and six grams (1/6 to 1/5 of an ounce). This species is sometimes called the "canyon bat" because it is common in canyons, including the Grand Canyon. Pipistrelles use holes in the cliffs above the cliff dwellings at Tonto National Monument for day roosts.

Some of Arizona's many species of bats migrate south in winter, and others hibernate. Pipistrelles spend the winter here, occasionally emerging to forage on warmer nights.