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Photos courtesy of Jon Slaght |
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Conservation of Blakiston’s fish owls also means conservation of the Primorye forests that are the current habitat of the remaining Amur tigers and that had been home to Amur leopards and may be so again in the future. Blakiston’s fish owls are a secretive, non-migratory endangered species endemic to northeast Asia, and the largest owls on earth. There is strong evidence that Blakiston's fish owls are associated with extremely diverse old-growth forests along rivers, and and are dependent on healthy populations of river fish such as salmon. Similar to spotted owls in North America, Blakiston's fish owls are potentially in direct conflict with logging because the old growth forests that fish owls appear to require are also highly valued for lumber and other natural resources. Furthermore, the salmon-rich rivers upon which fish owls depend for food are actively harvested both commercially and privately. Due to these conflicts, an understanding of ecological requirements of Blakiston's fish owls is necessary and will have broad reaching applications for other species dependent on the same habitat.
This project is conducting intensive ecological studies to determine nest site requirements, habitat requirements, home range size and characteristics, food habits, nesting success, and other population parameters. Adequate data collection will require capturing and outfitting a number of owls with VHF and GPS transmitters (10-12 birds/year for minimum of 3 years), and then conducting intensive, year-round monitoring of these individuals. In addition to information about fish owl habitat use, data on other vertebrate species living in fish owl habitat is also being gathered in order to strengthen the species' role as a conservation umbrella. A preliminary expedition to Primorye (in southern RFE) in winter 2006 noted the presence of at least four other endangered bird species (Mountain hawk-eagle, Scaly-sided merganser, Mandarin duck, Long-billed plover) and three protected mammal species (Amur tiger, brown bear, Asiatic black bear) sharing habitat with fish owls. Currently three adult male owls and a juvenile dispersing male owl are collared and being monitored.
 In 2006, the Minnesota Zoo’s Ulysses S. Seal Conservation Grant Program provided $1500 to this project to purchase VHF radio collars to be used to monitor the owls long term. Staff champion for this project is Steve Boyd-Smith, Interpretive Developer.
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