Blakiston’s Fish Owl, World's Biggest Owl

The Blakiston’s fish owl, "known for their intense yellow eyes and showy ear tufts, nest in cavities of old-growth trees among the wooded river valleys of the Russian Far East, where boreal and temperate rainforests meet the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk." Known as the world's biggest owl with a wingspan of over 6 feet, the Blakiston’s fish owl's global population is estimated to be between only 1,000 and 1,900 individuals. "Fish owls face two main threats: Habitat loss and the effects of climate change." Climate change brings about an array of challenges for the fish owl, from changing the availability of its prey during hatchling season to an increase of destructive storms a typhoons that threaten their habitat. Logging roads is considered the greatest problem with the Blakiston’s fish owl. "These roads are legally built, but since the 1980s, the number of roads has grown more than 17-fold. Although fish owls mostly nest in tall, dead trees of no commercial value, logging roads allow people such as poachers, illegal loggers, and pine nut collectors access to more remote parts of the forest." The protection and conservation of the Primorye and establishing logging restrictions are both priorities for saving the Blakiston’s fish owl.