Mindoro Boobook (Ninox mindorensis) - BirdLife species factsheet

Mindoro Boobook Ninox mindorensis

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note

Ninox philippensis, N. spilocephala, N. leventisi, N. reyi, N. rumseyi, N. spilonotus and N. mindorensis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as N. philippensis following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

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
-	-	C2a(ii)

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Vulnerable	C2a(ii)
2016	Vulnerable	B1ab(ii,iii,v)
2014	Vulnerable	B1ab(ii,iii,v)
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	13,300 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	2500-25000, 2500-9999 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2023
Population trend	decreasing	-	inferred	2010-2026
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	5-15%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	5-15%	-	-	-
Generation length	5.2 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: Within its range remains a maximum of c.2,000 km² of suitable habitat (calculated by sRedList [2023], using underlying data from Jung et al. [2020]), however some of this is heavily degraded and it appears to be commoner at lower elevations (with most remaining habitat >1,000 m).

Using satellite tracking data, Jakosalem et al. (2013) estimated densities as high as 10 pairs/km² for the formerly conspecific and similar-sized N. rumseyi of Cebu. However, this density was based on home ranges from satellite-tracking data that the authors acknowledged were likely to be too small due to the short time the birds were followed for. The estimated home ranges were, for example, up to ten times smaller than that of another similar-sized Ninox species (Olsen et al. 2011).

Assuming 30-60% occupancy, and a range of densities of 4-20 mature individuals/km² gives a range of c.2,400-24,000 mature individuals. This is rounded here to 2,500-25,000 mature individuals, with a best estimate at the lower range of this (2,500-9,999).

Trend justification: The main plausible threat to this species is habitat loss and degradation. While historically rates of lowland forest cover loss were very high on Mindoro (BirdLife International 2001), recent rates have been much slower, and over the past three generations (16 years: 2007-2023) forest cover in this species' range was reduced by 5-7% (Global Forest Watch 2024, based on data from Hansen et al. [2013] and methods therein). Moreover, degradation may have additive impacts, and only small areas of Mindoro's lowland forests have high intactness (Grantham et al. 2020). Overall, the population is suspected to have declined by 5-15% over the past three generations. Future rates of decline are highly uncertain, and not estimated here.

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

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1400 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%)

Slow, Significant Declines

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Biological resource use

Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]