Slaght employs a variety of writing styles. Within the first two parts, there are numerous anecdotes describing the situations and difficulties Slaght and his team encounter leading up to finding and capturing Fish Owls. The book has three parts, and 33 brief chapters. Slaght acknowledges their vital role throughout the book. The Russian field assistants contributed enormously to Slaght’s study, which could not have happened without them. They climbed and measured trees, recaptured Fish Owls to gather GPS transmitter data, and so forth. While Slaght was back at graduate school, his assistants continued to collect data. They devised feeding stations (used for many years in Japan) and by trial and error, helped Slaght develop an efficient capture method. Their knowledge of the Fish Owl and fish – the owls’ main prey – were important for locating areas where the owls hunt. These assistants taught Slaght how to find Fish Owls, capture bait fish to lure and trap Fish Owls, how to travel, live, and survive in these remote forests during winter. Their expertise was instrumental and indispensable in helping Slaght over five field seasons. The Russian field assistants possessed knowledge of trucks, snowmobiles, associated equipment, and logistics. Surmach, and some of the field assistants had experience with Fish Owls and knew most of the territories where the study would take place. This book is also a story about a team of Russian field assistants assembled by Surmach to help Slaght. D) project at the University of Minnesota.

In 2005, he met with Surmach and decided to research Fish Owls for his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. It turned out that “no scientist” had seen a Fish Owl this far south in 100 years. He sent the photo to a regional Russian Ornithologist, Sergey Surmach. While bird watching one day he observed and photographed a Fish Owl. He later completed a Master of Science (MS) degree on song birds and forest management in the Primorye region. Slaght was originally in this region working for the Peace Corps. This is a true story as told by Jonathan Slaght, a young graduate student, about his graduate study on Blakiston’s Fish Owl (hereafter Fish Owl) in the Primorye Province of eastern Russia.

The owls of the eastern ice