So along with learning about the owls themselves, we learn just how painstakingly tedious and lengthy fieldwork can be. They encounter melting ice, blizzards, extreme coldness, this is after all a harsh place If one opens a bottle of vodka, one throws away the cap because all drink until the bottle is empty. The characters that live in this part of the world include fishermen, hunters, eccentrics galore including a man who sleeps in a wooden pyramid for its positive energy.

The search itself, the fieldwork was fascinating. These owls are elusive, found in only certain places, under certain conditions, so the hunt was lengthly with rare glimpses in the beginning. A book that blends, conservatism, science and fieldwork, though I would say field work took up the largest part. Fish owls can be anywhere from two to two in a half feet tall, weighing up to right pounds, talons the size of a human hand. Most captivating of all are the fish owls themselves: vicious hunters, devoted parents, singers of eerie duets, and irrepressible survivors in a harsh and shrinking habitat.Ī rare glimpse into the everyday life of a scientist and the subjects of his deep fascination, Owls of the Eastern Ice is a testament to the determination, creativity, and resolve required by field research and a powerful reminder of the beauty, strength, and vulnerability of the natural world.Įastern Russia and the search for the world's largest owl. In Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl, American researcher and conservationist Slaght takes us to the Primoriye region of Eastern Russia, where we join a small team for late-night monitoring missions, on mad dashes across thawing rivers, drink vodka with mystics, hermits, and scientists, and listen to fireside tales of Amur tigers.

Only a handful of scientists have attempted to study them, but a chance sighting changed the course of Jonathan Slaght's life-sending him on a five-year journey to study these enigmatic creatures. The Blakiston's Fish Owl, the largest species of owl on earth, found only in the far northern regions of Russia, Japan, and Korea, is also perhaps the most mysterious. A field scientist and conservationist tracks the elusive Blakiston's Fish Owl in the forbidding reaches of eastern Russia

Owls of the eastern ice review