India! Flying Foxes

Indian Flying Fox (Fruit Bats): Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Not birds for today, but still flying creatures. These large fruit bats were roosting in a tree by the canteen at the end of the Keoladeo access road, right over the road. These are really big bats, among the largest bats in the world…weighing up to 3.5 pounds, with a body 8-9 inches long and a wingspan that can reach to 5 feet. Big bats! They do carry several diseases we can catch, and they feed on ripe fruit so fruit farmers tend to dislike them…but they may well offset any fruit destroyed by doing service as pollinators. That is still a hard sell if your income depends on your orchard. There must have been 20 in this roost. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1EV.

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