page_title: Blakiston's fish owl
section_title: Status
hierarchical_section_title: Blakiston's fish owl / Status
caption_attribution_description: English: Exhibit in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction.
context_page_description: Blakiston's fish owl, the largest living species of owl, is a fish owl, a sub-group of eagle owls which specialize in hunting in riparian areas. This species is a part of the family known as typical owls which contains most species of owl. Blakiston's fish owl and three related species were previously placed in the genus Ketupa; mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data is equivocal on which of the two genus names is applied for this species. Its habitat is riparian forest, with large, old trees for nest-sites, near lakes, rivers, springs and shoals that don't freeze in winter. Henry Seebohm named this bird after the English naturalist Thomas Blakiston, who collected the original specimen in Hakodate on Hokkaidō, Japan in 1883.
context_section_description: Blakiston's fish owl is classified as an Endangered Species by the IUCN. It is endangered due to the widespread loss of riverine forest, increasing land development along rivers and dam construction. The current population in Japan has been estimated at approximately 100-150 birds (20 breeding pairs and unpaired individuals), whereas on mainland Asia the population is higher, at times variously estimated at several hundred or perhaps up to thousands of individuals. Globally and included more recent detailed analysis from Russia, it is estimated that the population consists in total consists of about 1,000-1,500 individuals, or about 500-850 pairs. In the Primorye, it is estimated that 200 to 400 individuals remain. In Russia, fish owls are killed by fur-trappers (see above), drown in nets set for salmon, and are shot by hunters. In Japan, death by hunting is unlikely, but fish owls have been hit by cars and killed by power lines. Additionally, cases of exposure to lead or lead poisoning, possibly from bioaccumulation but also perhaps lead bullets in carrion, have been reported in these owls in at least Japan. Given their very small global population, ongoing deaths are unlikely to be sustainable. Local conservation efforts in Japan have been undertaken including education, installation of large nest-boxes and supplemental feeding. Biologists have found the presence of Blakiston's fish owls as good indicators of the health and disturbance level of a forest and of fish populations. An additional concern was a clear lack of genetic diversity found in Russia's fish owls upon the testing of their genome, with similar concerns expressed in Japan as well as evidence of inbreeding. Evidence has been found of a gradual recovery of the Blakiston's fish owl population in Hokkaido but Japanese conservationists are vexed by the lack of suitable habitat and recommend land use changes to encourage the growth of the population.
caption: A stuffed Blakiston's fish owl at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-RX100", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DSC-RX100 v1.00", "Image DateTime": "2014:03:15 05:45:59", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "292", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "15710", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4507", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:09:04 21:07:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:09:04 21:07:16", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "337/1280", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "463/128", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "471/20", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3648", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "5472", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "5472", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "3648", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "15562", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "63", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "f484a421a8cbdd6a9411e8115aaa10a6", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[52/5, 371/10, 9/5, 49/10]"}