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

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.

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

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	18,500,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	inferred	-
Generation length	6.1 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be common in most of its range (del Hoyo et al. 1999).

Trend justification:

The species is tentatively assessed as being in decline due to habitat loss per Tracewski et al. (2016).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native	yes
Benin	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native	yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes
Central African Republic	extant	native	yes
Congo	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	possibly extinct	native		yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Gabon	extant	native	yes
Gambia	extant	native	yes
Ghana	extant	native	yes
Guinea	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Liberia	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mali	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native	yes
Nigeria	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
Senegal	extant	native	yes
Sierra Leone	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Togo	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Swamp	suitable	resident
Marine Neritic	Estuaries	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1700 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Pel's Fishing-owl Scotopelia peli. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/pels-fishing-owl-scotopelia-peli 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.