Well, for sure we have two distinct types that invade homes in southern Louisiana although there are other species around.
The two most common home invaders that we see are the evening bat and the free-tailed bat. We use a dichotomous key to help identify them, that is kind of like a flow chart to help identify them. Kind of like a car salesman can tell what year toyota that tundra is by looking at it’s features, by the shape of the headlights, etc.
On a bat, these things are sometimes difficult to pick out but in the case of these two it’s fairly easy to see the difference. Have a look at these two photos, one is a free-tailed bat and the other is an evening bat. Both by the way were captured for identification from with the same roost.
