Little Bentwing Bats Roosting

Pastel on Canson paper (Sold)

63 cm W x 48 cm H
Little Bent-wing Bats (Miniopterus australis) roost in caves, mine tunnels and tree hollows, often in colonies numbering in the hundreds. Common Bent-wing Bats are often found roosting alongside them. Like all microbats, Little Bent-wing Bats also feed on small insects that fly beneath the canopy of thick forests. They are agile fliers, having to manoeuvre through the trees to catch their prey. Female Little Bent-wing Bats have a single baby in summer. They leave their babies in nursery caves at night to go and hunt, returning in the morning. These bats are also vulnerable to disturbance from human visitors to cave roosts, destruction of caves by limestone mining, and loss of feeding habitat by forestry operations, clearing and land degradation from agriculture.
I enjoyed creating this artwork although I found it challenging controlling the pastel dust fallout on the black paper and counting all those heads, making sure everything aligned correctly.