They are mysterious and massive owls, perhaps the largest in the world, weighing up to 10 pounds, and sporting wingspans of about six feet. They’re so big that in the dark forest, people have mistaken them for bears. They’re so tough that they shrug off blizzards in the Russian Far East, and make a living by plunging into nearly frozen rivers by night to grab fish that sometimes outweigh them.
But even big, tough birds need friends.
And if endangered Blakiston’s fish owls are to survive in the Russian Far East, their friends need to include loggers. Such an unlikely alliance, according to a new study, published in the journal Bird Conservation International, is vital to their survival. And it appears it’s possible.
“One of the biggest logging companies in northeastern Primorye, OAO Amgu, is already working with biologists to identify select patches of riverine forest on their lands crucial to the fish owl’s survival: huge trees for nesting, and stretches of river where the owls can hunt their favored prey: salmon,” according to a statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Blakiston’s fish owls are also found in Japan and China, but their numbers are in decline everywhere and the species is considered endangered. There may only be something like 3,000 to 5,000 of them left in the world. That’s the best guess from WCS Russia Projects Manager Jonathan Slaght, a co-author of the study.
In the Russian Far East, a logging company is helping to flag habitat for one of the world’s biggest owls.
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