| 2010 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN): Least Concern Justification This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern. Family/Sub-family Strigidae Species name author (Linnaeus, 1758) Taxonomic source(s) AERC TAC (2003), AOU checklist (1998 + supplements), Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) Synonyms Bubo scandiacus AERC TAC (2003) Taxonomic note Nyctea scandiaca is transferred to the genus Bubo following Wink, M. and Heidrich, P. (1999) Molecular evolution and systematics of the owls (Strigformes) in König et al. (1999) Owls: a guide to the owls of the world.
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