Species

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). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not 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.

Taxonomic source(s)
Cheng Tso-hsin. 1987. A synopsis of the avifauna of China. Paul Parey Scientific Publishers, Hamburg and Berlin.
Cheng Tso-hsin. 1994. A complete checklist of species and subspecies of Chinese birds. Science Press, Beijing.

Taxonomic note
Strix uralensis and S. davidi were considered distinct species by Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), König et al. (1999) and Marks et al. (1999) but this treatment is not followed by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group because the split of Strix davidi from S. uralensis is based upon the former's overall darker plumage and contrasting concentric lines and marked rim to the facial disc, absent in uralensis. They do not, however, differ vocally or in morphometrics. While davidi also differs from fuscescens, geographically the closest race to davidi, in have having larger, paler spots on head and mantle and having a paler ground colour below, it is not clear how great differences are from nikolskii, the race of uralensis closest in appearance to davidi. This treatment is also followed by Cheng Tso-hsin (1987, 1994).

Population justification
In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 53000-140000 breeding pairs, equating to 159000-420000 individuals (BirdLife International 2004). Europe forms 5-24% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 500000-8000000 individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed.

Trend justification
The population is suspected to be stable in part due to the provision of thousands of nest boxes in some areas to replace dead-wood habitat lost during forestry operations (del Hoyo et al. 1999).

Further web sources of information
Detailed species account from Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status (BirdLife International 2004)

Hear sounds for this species from xeno-canto, the community database of shared bird sounds from around the world.

View photos and videos, and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection

Text account compilers
Butchart, S., Ekstrom, J.

IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Strix uralensis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/05/2013.

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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