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

Taxonomic note
Strix butleri was previously listed as S. omanensis in del Hoyo and Collar 2014 based on the description under this name by Robb et al. (2013). Strix hadorami (Kirwan, Schweizer & Copete, 2015) was previously listed as S. butleri in del Hoyo and Collar (2014) and before.

Recent genetic and morphological analyses have revealed that the type specimen of S. butleri—the geographical provenance of which is open to doubt—differs significantly from all other specimens previously ascribed to this species, indicating (despite the lack of vocal data definitively linked to the same population as the type) that two species are involved, principally because the degree of molecular differentiation is close to that in other taxa of Strix traditionally recognised as species, which led to populations of this species from southern Oman to the Levant and eastern Egypt, which share the same morphology and vocalizations, being described as a separate species, Desert Tawny Owl (S. hadorami).

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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
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

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)	2,700,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.88 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be relatively common (del Hoyo et al. 1999). The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

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
Egypt	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native	yes
Jordan	extant	native	yes
Oman	extant	native	yes
Pakistan	extant	uncertain
Palestine	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes
Yemen	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Egypt	Gebel Elba
Egypt	Gebel Maghara
Egypt	Nabq Protected Area
Egypt	Quseima
Egypt	St Katherine Protectorate
Egypt	The Abraq area
Egypt	Wadi Gerafi
Israel	Cliffs of Zin and the Negev highlands
Israel	Judean desert
Israel	Northern Arava valley
Israel	Southern Arava valley and Elat mountains
Jordan	Aqaba coast and mountains
Jordan	Dana
Jordan	Hisma Basin - Rum
Jordan	Petra
Jordan	Wadi Mujib
Palestine	Jerusalem wilderness
Saudi Arabia	Harrat al-Harrah
Saudi Arabia	Jabal Aja and Northern Ha'il
Saudi Arabia	Jabal al-Lawz
Saudi Arabia	Shallal ad-Dahna
Saudi Arabia	Wadi Jawwah
Yemen	Hawf deciduous cloud forest
Yemen	Kawkaban - Shibam

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	marginal	resident
Desert	Hot	major	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Desert Tawny Owl Strix hadorami. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/desert-tawny-owl-strix-hadorami on 23/12/2024.
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 23/12/2024.