Acoustic monitoring reveals regular occupancy of rock talus by bats during periods of winter hibernation

We collected passive ultrasonic acoustic recordings of bats during the Core Winter Period (December-February) at 43 talus slopes over two winters in Maine, USA from 2017-2019, and performed a single-season occupancy analyses to evaluate the characteristics associated with detection and site presence. We provide information about site characteristics likely to predict bat presence at talus slopes during the winter period and suggest future work should evaluate whether the predictive value of these site characteristics hold true for other talus areas in Maine, eastern North America or other areas.