African Grass-owl (Tyto capensis) - BirdLife species factsheet

African Grass-owl Tyto capensis

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

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. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	419 g

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	7,990,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	6 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be locally common to uncommon (del Hoyo et al. 1999).

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident
Angola	extant	native	yes
Burundi	extant	native	yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes
Congo	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	uncertain
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 3200 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: African Grass-owl Tyto capensis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/african-grass-owl-tyto-capensis on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.