Common Barn-owl (Tyto alba) - BirdLife species factsheet

Common Barn-owl Tyto alba

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

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	355 g

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	330,000,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	4000000-9999999 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	stable	-	estimated	-
Generation length	6.2 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The European population is estimated at 111,000-230,000 pairs, which equates to 222,000-460,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms approximately 5% of the global range so a very preliminary estimate of the global population is 4,400,000-9,200,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed. The population is therefore placed in the band 4,000,000-9,999,999 mature individuals.

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. The European population trend is estimated to be fluctuating (BirdLife International 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native	yes
American Samoa	extant	native		yes
Andorra	extant	native	yes
Angola	extant	native	yes
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	native	yes
Argentina	extant	native	yes
Australia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Bahamas	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	native	yes
Bangladesh	extant	native		yes
Barbados	extant	native	yes
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Belize	extant	native	yes
Benin	extant	native	yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Bolivia	extant	native	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Brazil	extant	native	yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native	yes
Burundi	extant	native	yes
Cambodia	extant	native		yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes
Canada	extant	native	yes
Cape Verde	extant	native	yes
Cayman Islands (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Central African Republic	extant	native	yes
Chad	extant	native	yes
Chile	extant	native	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Colombia	extant	native	yes
Comoros	extant	native	yes
Congo	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Costa Rica	extant	native	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native	yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cuba	extant	native	yes
Curaçao (to Netherlands)	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes			yes
Dominican Republic	extant	native	yes
Ecuador	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	native	yes
El Salvador	extant	native	yes
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Estonia	extant	vagrant			yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	native	yes
Fiji	extant	native	yes
Finland	extant	vagrant			yes
France	extant	native	yes
French Guiana	extant	native	yes
Gabon	extant	native	yes
Gambia	extant	native	yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native	yes
Ghana	extant	native	yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Greece	extant	native	yes
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	native	yes
Guatemala	extant	native	yes
Guinea	extant	native	yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native	yes
Guyana	extant	native	yes
Honduras	extant	native	yes
Hungary	extant	native	yes
India	extant	native		yes
Indonesia	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Jamaica	extant	native		yes
Jordan	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Kuwait	extant	native	yes
Laos	extant	native		yes
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
Liberia	extant	native	yes
Libya	extant	native	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Madagascar	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Malaysia	extant	native		yes
Mali	extant	native	yes
Malta	extant	native		yes
Martinique (to France)	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	native	yes
Mayotte (to France)	extant	native	yes
Mexico	extant	native	yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Monaco	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Morocco	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Myanmar	extant	native		yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
New Zealand	extant	vagrant			yes
Nicaragua	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native	yes
Nigeria	extant	native	yes
Niue (to New Zealand)	extant	native		yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	vagrant			yes
Oman	extant	native	yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Palestine	extant	native	yes
Panama	extant	native	yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	native		yes
Paraguay	extant	native	yes
Peru	extant	native	yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	native	yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
Samoa	extant	native		yes
San Marino	extant	native		yes
São Tomé e Príncipe	extant	native		yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes
Senegal	extant	native	yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Seychelles	extant	introduced		yes
Sierra Leone	extant	native	yes
Singapore	extant	native		yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Solomon Islands	extant	native		yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native		yes
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	native	yes
St Lucia	extant	native	yes
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native
Suriname	extant	native	yes
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant			yes
Sweden	extant	native		yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Thailand	extant	native		yes
Timor-Leste	extant	native	yes
Togo	extant	native	yes
Tonga	extant	native		yes
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native	yes
Tunisia	extant	native	yes
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native	yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	native
Uruguay	extant	native		yes
USA	extant	native		yes
Vanuatu	extant	native		yes
Venezuela	extant	native	yes
Vietnam	extant	native		yes
Wallis and Futuna Islands (to France)	extant	native		yes
Western Sahara	extant	native		yes
Yemen	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Germany	Hellwegbörde
Germany	Rhön Biosphere Reserve
Germany	Vorderer Steigerwald - Windsheimer Bucht - Steigerwald-Vorland
Greece	Thessaly plain
Portugal	Tejo estuary
Spain	Mountains of Barcelona
Switzerland	Lowlands of Zurich and lower valley of the river Thur

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Canals and Drainage Channels, Ditches	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Wastewater Treatment Areas	suitable	resident
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	marginal	resident
Caves and Subterranean Habitats (non-aquatic)	Caves	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	resident
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Moist	marginal	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	marginal	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Shrub Dominated Wetlands	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 4000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Other household goods	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Common Barn-owl Tyto alba. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/common-barn-owl-tyto-alba 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.