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

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.
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
2021	Least Concern
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

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	80,000,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	99,200,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	2200000-3700000 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2021
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	5.7 years	-	-	-

Population justification: Partners in Flight Science Committee (2020a) estimated the population in the USA and Canada to be c.150,000 individuals, and the global population to be c.520,000 individuals. The European population is estimated at 312,000-512,000 pairs, which equates to 624,000-1,030,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International In prep.). Europe forms approximately 28% of the global range, so the global population size is suspected to number 2,230,000-3,680,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed.

Trend justification: Trends in North America are not well known as local numbers rise and fall, but several studies suggest an overall decline, often attributed to loss of habitat (Marks et al. 2020). Analysis of results from the Christmas Bird Count suggest a decline of more than 50% since 1970 (Partners in Flight 2020b). In Europe the population size trend is unknown (BirdLife International In prep.).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native	yes		yes	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
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Bhutan	extant	vagrant			yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native	yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Canada	extant	native	yes	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes		yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cuba	extant	vagrant
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes			yes
Egypt	extant	native	yes		yes
Estonia	extant	native	yes	yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native			yes
Finland	extant	native		yes		yes
France	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Georgia	extant	native	yes
Germany	extant	native	yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Greece	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Hong Kong (China)	extant	vagrant
Hungary	extant	native	yes
Iceland	extant	native		yes
India	extant	native			yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes		yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes		yes
Israel	extant	native	yes		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Japan	extant	native	yes		yes
Jordan	extant	native			yes	yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native	yes
Kuwait	extant	vagrant			yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native	yes
Laos	extant	vagrant
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes			yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Malta	extant	vagrant
Mexico	extant	native	yes		yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Mongolia	extant	native	yes
Montenegro	extant	native	yes
Morocco	extant	native	yes
Myanmar	extant	vagrant
Nepal	extant	native			yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
North Korea	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	native	yes	yes
Oman	extant	vagrant			yes	yes
Pakistan	extant	native			yes
Palestine	extant	native	yes
Poland	extant	native	yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	vagrant
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native	yes	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native	yes	yes
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	vagrant			yes
Serbia	extant	native	yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
South Korea	extant	native			yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	vagrant			yes	yes
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native	yes	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native	yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native			yes
Tajikistan	extant	native	yes
Tunisia	extant	native	yes		yes
Türkiye	extant	native	yes		yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native	yes		yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	vagrant			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes		yes
USA	extant	native	yes	yes	yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	suitable	resident
Forest	Boreal	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	marginal	resident
Forest	Temperate	suitable	resident
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Boreal	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Marshes/Pools	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Shrub Dominated Wetlands	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 2750 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Unintentional effects (species is not the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Strix aluco	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Competition
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality

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

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Long-eared Owl Asio otus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/long-eared-owl-asio-otus on 04/12/2024.
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 04/12/2024.