Blathers, the talkative museum curator owl, makes a return in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, reprising his usual role of running the town's museum and accepting donations of bugs, fossils, and fish. However, unlike in other titles, Blathers isn't available from the game's start and must be brought over to the island. This has left some players stockpiling their fish and bugs as they await the owl's arrival.
Luckily for these players, Blathers is one of the first special villagers to completely move onto the island. While the museum itself won't be available at first, Blathers can accept some donations and assess fossils soon after coming on over. Players can catch their bugs in peace knowing that that they will be going into Blathers' safe feathers.
In order to begin the process to unlock Blathers, players must have completed the tutorial and have gone through the process of placing their tent. After that's all done, the steps needed can be started on the very first day of playing.
Talk to Tom Nook
After all of the tutorial objectives are completed, the player has gone to sleep in their tent, and the DIY tutorials are completed, players should talk to Tom Nook. After doing so, he will call up Blathers and task players with collecting five different wildlife specimens from around the island.
Collect Five Creatures
The five creatures can be any mix of bugs and fish. Bugs can be caught using any kind of net and fish can be caught using any kind of fishing rod. Bugs can be caught by simply using a net on them when they're seen, but fish need to be caught by luring their shadows over. For Tom Nook, these creatures all have to unique types, so giving him five sea bass won't cut it. However, catching bugs and fish will net players some great puns as an additional award to their catch.
After giving Tom Nook all the specimens, players will be given Blathers' Tent. This can be placed like any other tent and its placement will decide where the museum will eventually be built. The only restriction with this tent is that it cannot be placed on a beach like other tents. Once this is done, players should talk to Tom Nook again.
Wait Until the Next Day
The next day, Blathers should be in a tent where players set it up. There he will give players the recipes for a vaulting pole and a shovel, giving more access to the island and access to more resources, as well as fossils. The shovel will also allow players to plant fruits and grow more trees around the island.
Unlocking Blathers also allows for more creature donations. However, this only goes up to 10, as unlimited donations are only available after unlocking the full museum.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
