The bat approaches the insect from behind, taking the abdomen and thorax in its mouth and biting off and swallowing this area of the insect, while dropping the wings and head. In comparison to other bats, the hoary bat feeds on relatively few orders of insects. Reproduction In North America, the hoary bat's breeding range extends across Canada and northcentral and northeastern United States down to at least Kansas and Kentucky, and perhaps to Arkansas, Louisiana, and Georgia. Hoary bats are thought to mate around the time of autumn migration. Researchers are uncertain about whether copulation occurs before, during, or after the southward migration.
Courtship is believed to proceed during day flights.
Mating may also occur at southern wintering grounds. Copulation is followed by delayed implantation, a process in which the sperm is stored in the female reproductive track all winter and is available to fertilize the egg when ovulation takes place in the spring. Parturition appears to range from the middle of May into early July. Little is known about the bat's gestation time. One study found three females to deliver between 900 and 1300 hours.