Cyprus Scops-owl (Otus cyprius) - BirdLife species factsheet

Cyprus Scops-owl Otus cyprius

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Otus scops has been split into Eurasian Scops-owl O. scops and Cyprus Scops-owl O. cyprius on the basis on significant vocal differences and minor plumage characteristics following a detailed review by Flint et al. 2015).

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2019	Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	unset
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	14,400 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	10000-24000 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2012
Population trend	unknown	-	-	-
Generation length	3.7 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The breeding population is estimated at 5,000-12,000 pairs, which equates to 10,000-24,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). This is roughly equivalent to 15,000-36,000 individuals in total.

Trend justification: The population trend direction is unknown (BirdLife International 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	vagrant

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Cyprus	Pafos Forest
Cyprus	Akamas and Agia Aikaterini – Agia Paraskevi Gorges
Cyprus	Karpasia Peninsula - Kleides Islands
Cyprus	Mahairas Forest - Tzionia
Cyprus	Pentadaktylos Mountains

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	major	resident
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 1900 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Agriculture & aquaculture

Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Scale Unknown/Unrecorded

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Majority (50-90%)

Slow, Significant Declines

Medium Impact: 6

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Otus cyprius. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/cyprus-scops-owl-otus-cyprius on 30/11/2023.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org on 30/11/2023.