A new research study suggests that the world’s largest owl may let us know of the health of our ecosystem including the trees, rivers, and the salmon population in the great forests of the Far East.
The Blakiston's fish owl, Bubo blakistoni, is a fish owl that often inhabits between the land and river most likely because it feeds mainly on salmon. It is famous for it being the largest owl in the world wherein males can weigh up to 7.6 pounds while females can reach up to 10 pounds. It feeds up to three times of its weight and hunts at sunset and dawn.
It is listed as one of the endangered species due to widespread destruction of its natural habitat due to river and dam constructions. The Russian fish owls, on the other hand, often die of being caught by fur-trappers, drowning in nets, and hunting.
Jonathan C. Slaught, leader of the Blakinton’s Fish Owl Project, spent almost a year mapping the habitat of the fish owls in the great forest of Russia. His team had challenges locating the nests of these salmon-eaters as it often fly away for escape once it senses the presence of an intruder. It flies as high as 300 feet and may possibly build its nest on such height to protect its family.
However, the winter snow helped the team in tracking these owls. "The one thing working in our favor to find where the owls fish in winter is snow," Slaght said in LiveScience. "Fish owls will walk up and down the riverbank in their favorite fishing spots, jumping in to catch fish here and there, and so even though we might not see the owls themselves, they leave their tracks behind in the snow, so we know where they like to hunt."
The team discovered that both the Blakiston's fish owl and the salmon depend on huge trees for survival. The trees serve as nesting grounds for the fish owls. When these huge trees die and fall near the water, the disruption it causes on the river flow is beneficial for the life cycle of the salmon.
"This is an important realization because some policymakers don't care about conservation, but they do care about the economy. We can now make a case for reduced logging in riparian [riverbank] zones in Primorye, because this action can potentially impact commercially valuable salmon populations," said Slaght in LiveScience.
Their findings will be released in the October issue of the journal Onyx.
