Mindanao Highland Scops-owl (Otus mirus) - BirdLife species factsheet

Mindanao Highland Scops-owl Otus mirus

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
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.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2023	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	B1ab(ii,iii,v)
2012	Near Threatened	B1ab(ii,iii,v)
2008	Near Threatened	B1a+b(iii)
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1996	Vulnerable
1994	Vulnerable
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type	shelf island	Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	82,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2016-2026
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-5%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-5%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-5%	-	-	-
Generation length	2.44 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	10-20	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified. Descriptions of its abundance range from rare (e.g. König et al. 1999) to local and uncommon (e.g. Allen 2020), however citizen science data (eBird 2023) reveal it to be rather common where survey effort overlaps with the correct elevation at night. Given that approximately 8,000 km² of forest lies in its mapped range, the population size is therefore not believed to be especially small, and there is relatively high certainty that it exceeds 10,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: The only acting threat to this species is habitat loss, caused principally by shifting agriculture and degradation at the lowest elevations of its range. Remote sensing data reveal the rate of loss to be very slow, equivalent to 2-4% of the mapped range being lost in the past ten years (2012-2022) (Global Forest Watch 2023, based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods disclosed therein). It is plausible that this rate is an overestimate of population declines, since most of these losses are between 1,000-1,200 m elevation, where the species is reportedly less common than at higher elevations. Precautionarily, the trend is suspected to be declining at an ongoing rate of 1-5% over ten years.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Philippines	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Philippines	Mount Apo
Philippines	Mount Busa-Kiamba
Philippines	Mount Hilong-hilong
Philippines	Mount Kitanglad

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Altitude	1500 - 2950 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Agriculture & aquaculture

Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Shifting agriculture

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation