Blakiston's fish owl - R.David Digby - Framed Vintage Poster Print - 16"H x 12"W

Blakiston's fish owl - R.David Digby - Framed Vintage Poster Print - 16"H x 12"W

Blakiston's fish owl is a fish owl, a sub-group of eagle owls who specialized in hunting riparian areas. This species is a part of the family known as typical owls which contains most species of owl. 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.

Blakiston's fish owl is revered by the Ainu peoples of Hokkaido, as a Kamuy (divine being) called Kotan koru Kamuy (God that Protects the Village).