Think it's been touch chilly lately? Try birding hundreds of kms north of Vladivostok, sitting in felt-lined tents for hours, -30C outside, waiting for the world's biggest owl to be snagged in a world first live capture. But first spend winter months finding some of the Blakiston's Fish Owls. Come back a year later. Repeat another year later. Finally crack secrets of luring owls with live-fish traps. Finally, live-trapping. Capture, measure, fit trackers to some, release, for, hopefully, recapture the following year. Repeat. And repeat again.
Owls of the Eastern Ice, A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl, by Jonathan C. Slaght, tells in nitty-gritty detail of mad and bad moments and motley sometimes mad Russian companions of the burly US Peace Corp volunteer's transition from casual birder to Wildlife Conservation Society co-ordination for Russia and Northeast Asia. Maybe too much detail for nonbirders but remarkable for its picture of extraordinary field science and scientist. (The vagaries of libraries today: Lucky find in large print section, Townsville City Council, Flinders St.)
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