• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• 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
2017	Near Threatened	B2ab(ii,iii,v)
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
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	404,000 km2	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	1,484 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	5 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as common on Nansei-shoto. The total population on Lanyu is estimated to be 150-230 individuals (Konig et al. 1999), while other national population sizes have been estimated at c.100-100,000 breeding pairs in Taiwan and c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in Japan (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be in slow decline owing to on-going but limited habitat loss and degradation.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Japan	Amami islands
Japan	Daito islands
Japan	Yambaru, northern Okinawa forest
Philippines	Batanes Islands
Taiwan, China	Lanyu

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 550 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		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Ryukyu Scops-owl Otus elegans. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/ryukyu-scops-owl-otus-elegans 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.