Eastern Blossom Bat

Pastel on Canson paper (SOLD)

46 cm W x 62 cm H
Another in my microbat series although technically Blossom Bats are a bit larger in size than true microbats. Also known as the Common Blossom Bat or the Southern Blossom Bat, the Eastern Blossom Bat (Syconycteris australis) is a small nectar feeding bat. Habitat includes rainforests, wet eucalypt forests and paperbark swamps throughout eastern and north-eastern Australia. It is fawn to reddish-brown in colour above with a paler belly. It has a long narrow (I think very cute) face, large eyes and a very long thin tongue, with a brush-like tip. Its diet is highly specialised, consisting of nectar and pollen from bottlebrush, paperbark, banksia and gum tree blossoms. It is an important pollinator of many rainforest plants.