Endangered Owls, Gods in Flight 

RAUSU ー It is shortly before 6 PM, still some time before dusk will fall over Eastern Hokkaido. However, we are already preparing for special visitors that only come at night, the Blakiston's fish owls. They are the biggest owls in the world with a wingspan of 1.90 meters. 

The owl's impressive size is one of the main reasons why the species is critically endangered. There are simply not enough old trees around that are large enough to accommodate the feathered hunter. 

Around 140 owls are left in Japan ー all of them live in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost prefecture. With its unspoiled nature, Shiretoko Peninsula is one of the few places where the Blakiston's still nest. 

Shiretoko means the "end of the earth" in the indigenous Ainu language. And the town of Rausu on the southeastern corner of the peninsula certainly feels like it. Outside the town of 5,000 inhabitants, Chieko Kawamura runs "Washi no Yado," a small guesthouse that caters to owl watchers. 

'Washi no Yado'

It's a simple place next to the Chitorai River, a small stream running through a narrow valley near the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. Here, fish owls come to hunt almost every night. Presently, the owls in residence are a couple feeding their young. "We have two babies this year," the elderly lady inside the inn proudly proclaims. "And they are still being fed by their parents." Then she is off to serve dinner to her human guests.  

Meanwhile, Kawamura explains the rules of engagement. No lights, no flash, no noise and absolutely no movements outside the lodge when a bird is near. 

All the attention focuses on a heap of stones inside the stream. Here in a small pond inside the water, fish are provided for the owls every night. We will watch the skillful hunter from a container where we can sit and drink hot or cold tea while waiting. 

Waiting is one of the prominent features of bird watching. Another lady brings a notebook where all of the bird sightings this year have been meticulously recorded. A day earlier than my visit, the first owl made an appearance at 6:10 PM. In all, the birds came 13 times, with the last at 4:37 AM. 

At 6 PM, Kawamura shuts the door of our container and turns off the light. Now, the wait begins for real. The guests have their telescopic camera lenses focused on the rocks as dusk falls. 

Lights Off 

At 6.01, a deer appears. It is followed by a second deer at 6.03. The two seem undisturbed, slowly chewing on some grass. At 6.16 the first mosquito appears, followed by more four minutes later. At 6.25, a mosquito coil is lit that glows in the dark. Around 6.30, the deer slowly stroll out of sight towards the coast. No sign of the owl, still. We sit in silence waiting.

But then, suddenly, with a soft swoosh, something appears out of the shadow and takes position in a barren tree next to the stream. Cameras start clicking away. The Blakiston's owl has arrived. 

When the owl opens its huge wings with their wavy pattern, it is a mysterious and awe-inspiring sight. With fluffy ear tufts, it looks a bit like a lynx, and its striking yellow eyes glow in the dark like those of a wild cat. It is easy to see why the Ainu, the native people of Hokkaido, believed that the owl was a divine messenger keeping evil spirits away. They called the bird "kotan koru kamui," the god that protects the village. 

Nowhere to Go

Times have changed. When industrialization reached Hokkaido in the late 19th century, the Blakiston's were still a common sight, even in towns like Sapporo or Hakodate. Now, only about 40 to 50 breeding pairs remain. Once a spiritual guardian to Hokkaido's Ainu, the owl now needs human protection.

The bird is adapted to a very specific environment. It can only catch fish in natural, untamed rivers near the sea coast, where the water is warm enough to stay partly ice-free during the long winter. This poses a problem because most of the rivers have been artificially altered, often put into concrete straitjackets. Rapid development has not only changed most rivers in Hokkaido, it has also replaced broad-leaved forests and their large trees with farmland. 

The owl's habitat, undisturbed hardwood forests with old maple, birch, and elm trees running alongside streams and floodplains, has been lost. This leaves the largest bird to use tree hollows as nests, with nowhere to go. 

Breeding and Feeding 

To support breeding and to make up for the habitat loss, Japan's Ministry of the Environment has been running special conservation projects since the 1980s. These include providing nest boxes, creating feeding ponds, and banding and monitoring the owls. The effort is slowly paying off. More owls are breeding and more young are fledgling. 

The conservation strategy has its limits, though, as long as the right territory is missing. Without a protected environment, owls keep getting killed in car collisions or electrocuted by power lines. Due to the lack of space and partners, inbreeding is common.  

Strobe Lights On 

People like Kawamura help to stabilize the population. The 75-year-old strikes a careful balance between protecting the birds while allowing visitors to watch them. He has teamed up with a physicist to create a special strobe light that pulses. It is set at a particular angle that does not disturb the owls, but helps people to observe and photograph the birds at night. The fish owl is nocturnal, and without artificial light, it would almost be impossible to take photos ー even with special lenses. 

The pulsing light illuminates the feeding area where a Blakiston's fish owl has now flown down to the riverbed to look for fish. Unlike other owl species, the Blakiston's are noisy. They lack the sound-muffling feathers that make other owl species silent in flight. 

As the Blakiston's prey on fish and frogs, they do not need to be noiseless hunters. Their talons are long and sharp, adapted to catching small, aquatic creatures. The owl in front of us effortlessly grabs three silvery fish that still wiggle as they are slowly swallowed. Tonight's first dinner course for the endangered bird has been served, leaving owl and guests pleased.      

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Author: Agnes Tandler (Rausu)