I was out taking my nightly 2am walk when I saw a giant bat flying overhead. it was the biggest I’ve ever seen being the size of a crow. I am currently in Geneseo New York. that’s all the information I have to give. What kind of bat could I have seen?
Start here. North America doesn’t get the biggest bats (megabats, aka “the cute ones,” although some are smaller than microbats).
WAG: Big brown bat?
You might have seen a nightjar, and not a bat; in your area either a whippoorwill or a nighthawk. I just saw the former’s southern cousin the chuck-will’s-widow a few nights ago in point of fact.
Are you sure it wasn’t an owl?
If it was a bat, it definitely wasn’t the size of a crow. Crows have a wingspan of about 3 feet, while the largest bat likely to be found in New York, the Big Brown Bat, has a wingspan of up to 16 inches. So it was either a bird, or you overestimated its size. (Size is difficult to evaluate in flying animals, especially at night.)
I’m pretty sure it was a bat judging by the way it was flying. Maybe it wasn’t the size of a crow. It probably was a big brown bat.