• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Bubo virginianus and B. magellanicus (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as B. virginianusfollowing Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km2)	65,900,000	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Number of mature individuals		poor	estimated	2009
Population trend	stable		estimated	-
Generation length (years)	10.6	-	-	-

Trend justification: This species has had stable population trends over the last 40 years in North America (data from Breeding Bird Survey and/or Christmas Bird Count: Butcher and Niven 2007). Note, however, that these surveys cover less than 50% of the species's range in North America, which itself only comprises a proportion of the global range.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
Argentina	extant	native	yes
Belize	extant	native	yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Bolivia	extant	native	yes
Brazil	extant	native	yes
Canada	extant	native	yes
Colombia	extant	native	yes
Costa Rica	extant	native	yes
Ecuador	extant	native	yes
El Salvador	extant	native	yes
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	vagrant
French Guiana	extant	native	yes
Guatemala	extant	native	yes
Guyana	extant	native	yes
Honduras	extant	native	yes
Mexico	extant	native	yes
Nicaragua	extant	native	yes
Panama	extant	vagrant
Paraguay	extant	native	yes
Peru	extant	native	yes
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	extant	vagrant
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native			yes
Suriname	extant	native	yes
Uruguay	extant	native	yes
USA	extant	native	yes
Venezuela	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Desert	Temperate	suitable	resident
Forest	Boreal	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Swamp	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	suitable	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Savanna	Moist	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 4000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 4500 m

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-	-	international	non-trivial	recent
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-		international	non-trivial	recent
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	-	-	-		non-trivial	recent
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	-	-			non-trivial	recent

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Bubo virginianus. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/great-horned-owl-bubo-virginianus on 29/09/2023. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org on 29/09/2023.