The physical impression first given by a Blakiston’s Fish Owl is that of a small bear (“small” relative to the size of a bear, that is) with wings. Standing more than two feet high, with a wingspan exceeding six feet, and a body mass that not only looks proportionally larger than other owls due to their shaggy plumage but actually is, these massive owls of the far eastern portion of Asia are the largest of any living owl species.
With yet another business trip rapidly approaching – this time to a new destination for me: Hong Kong – I found myself a bit flat-footed as to proper preparation. Not what clothes and such to pack, of course; rather what natural history guides to obtain to get an understanding of what I might see while […]
Whenever I am bound for some far-off destination, at least one of the books I stuff into my already over-stuffed bag will be a relevant volume of the Princeton Field Guides or Princeton Pocket Guides series. I make it a point of maintaining an extensive collection of them for just such purposes.
If you follow the bird watching press, you’ll no doubt know that Central Asia (with a few localized and easy-to assume geographic exceptions) is one of the areas of the globe seeing a noteworthy rise in wildlife-related tourism. However for those who have previously made the journey there, finding a field guide to the area […]