Little Owl (Athene noctua) - BirdLife species factsheet

Little Owl Athene noctua

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.
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
2018	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

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	171 g

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	52,700,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	5000000-9999999 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.4 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 618,000-1,170,000 pairs, which equates to 1,240,000-2,340,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms c.25% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 4,960,000-9,360,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed. The population is therefore placed in the band 5,000,000-9,999,999 mature individuals.

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats. The European population is estimated to be stable (BirdLife International 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor
Afghanistan	extant	native	yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native	yes
Andorra	extant	native	yes
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Chad	extant	native	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes
Djibouti	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Finland	extant	vagrant			yes
France	extant	native	yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native		yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Greece	extant	native	yes
Hungary	extant	native	yes
India	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	vagrant			yes
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Jordan	extant	native	yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kuwait	extant	native	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes
Libya	extant	native	yes
Liechtenstein	possibly extinct	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Mali	extant	native	yes
Malta	extant	vagrant			yes
Mauritania	extant	native	yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native	yes
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
New Zealand	extant	introduced		yes
Niger	extant	native	yes
North Korea	extant	vagrant			yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	vagrant			yes
Oman	extant	native	yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Palestine	extant	native	yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	native	yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Korea	extant	native		yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native	yes
Sweden	extant	vagrant			yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native	yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tunisia	extant	native	yes
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native	yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Western Sahara	extant	native		yes
Yemen	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Bulgaria	Kamchiyska Mountain
Bulgaria	Ludogorie
Bulgaria	Western Balkan
Bulgaria	Western Strandzha
Cyprus	Akamas and Agia Aikaterini – Agia Paraskevi Gorges
Cyprus	Diarizos Valley
Cyprus	Karpasia Peninsula - Kleides Islands
Cyprus	Pentadaktylos Mountains
Cyprus	Xeros Valley and Hanoutaris Cliffs
France	Crau
France	Plateau de Valensole
Germany	Hellwegbörde
Germany	Lower Rhine
Germany	Orchards at the lower Main
Germany	Orchards in the Wetterau
Greece	Antichasia mountains and Meteora
Greece	Mountains of Naxos
Greece	Southern Mani, mount Sangias and cape Tainaro
Greece	Thessaly plain
Greece	Western, eastern and southern Rhodes
North Macedonia	Pelagonia
Portugal	Castro Verde plains
Spain	Mountains of Barcelona

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Boreal	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 2600 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

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

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Little Owl Athene noctua. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/little-owl-athene-noctua 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.