Truly shocked to come across a new original picture of a. BFO! 😮

This must have been such a special opportunity for the photographer.

From Jonathan Wadsworth

Blakiston’s Fish Owl, the largest owl in the world.

Settings: 800mm, 1/80s, f/6.3, ISO 8000

This photo was taken at a licensed observatory in Hokkaido, where a special pulsing LED light provides both birdwatchers and scientists a place to observe the owls without disturbing them or seeking them out in their sensitive nesting areas.

Unfortunately, they are critically endangered, relying on mature boreal forest near clean-flowing rivers, habitat that is drastically disappearing. In Hokkaido, conservation has been successful so far, with the population increasing from only 70 birds in the 1980s to at least 160 now. It’s still a perilously small population however.