• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Range map
• Resources

Taxonomic note
Bubo milesi is recognised as a full species separate to B. africanus on multiple criteria following Collar and Boesman (2019). Previously, B. africanus (including milesi) and B. cinerascens were separated (del Hoyo and Collar 2014). Before this, all were previously included within B. africanus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993). Monotypic.

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2022. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Not Recognised
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,840,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	4000-9999 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2010
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	6.17 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	3-100	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The species is locally common (Kirwan and Boesman 2021), although the population has been considered to be as small as 2,000 pairs (Jennings 2010); 800 pairs in Saudi Arabia, 900 pairs in Yemen, 300 pairs in Oman, and an unknown, but small number in the UAE. This roughly converts to 4,000 mature individuals. Given the absence of any pervasive threats, it is possible the population numbers higher; however, to account for the fact that the species procures a localised distribution (per eBird 2022), the population is nevertheless suspected to number less than 10,000 mature individuals, placed here in the band of 4,000-9,999 mature individuals.

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Oman	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native	yes
Yemen	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Yemen	Jabal Bura

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 2000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Arabian Eagle-owl Bubo milesi. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/arabian-eagle-owl-bubo-milesi on 08/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 08/01/2025.