Owls Of The Eastern Ice

 Jonathan Slaght was in the Peace Corps in Russia close to where Russia, China, and North Korea meet. He was interested in birds and just, by pure luck, came upon a fish owl. He took a photograph and shared it with others. No one thought fish owls were in the area he was because they were endangered. That sighting sparked him to study fish owls for his Ph.D in conservation from the University of Minnesota. For six years he traveled to Russia and completed field studies. After spotting some owls after long winter nights slogging through the Russian forests and snowmobiling down frozen rivers, he and his assistants, caught some owls in traps and put transmitters on them. These are big owls with a wing span of six feet. He found that the male owls become docile once caught while the females never quit struggling. Owls really don't like to wear transmitters so they gradually pecked the antennae off the transmitters rendering them useless. He switched to smaller GPS receivers. He studied where the owls lived. All trapping was done in the winter because the owls are easier to catch. Any spot where the river ice is open is where he found his owls. In the summer the owls travel more miles. In the fall, the fish owls follow the spawning salmon up stream into the mountains. He put all of his observations and stories into a book called Owls Of The Eastern Ice: A Quest To Save the World's Largest Owl. His research showed that river valleys are vital to the survival of these very large owls. The area where the owls were studied is the same where Amur tigers live. The largest owl also needs a very large nest. Not many trees are large enough to support the owl and one or two fledglings.  He also found that if you cut a hole in a wooden barrel and attach it to a tree ten or so feet off the ground, the owl will nest there too. I enjoyed this book detailing his struggles and successes in researching the fish owls. He had some funny anecdotes about his quirky Russian companions too.