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 has not been quantified, but it is not believed to 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)
Christidis, L.; Boles, W. E. 1994. The taxonomy and species of birds of Australia and its territories. Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union, Melbourne.
Christidis, L.; Boles, W. E. 2008. Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.

Taxonomic note
Ninox scutulata (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was split into N. scutulata, N. randi and N. japonica by King (2002), but this treatment is not adopted by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group, because although King (2002) provides good evidence of consistent vocal differences in three groups within the Ninox scutulata complex, he also shows there are no clear matching morphological differences. It is also hard to judge just how great are the vocal differences and to decide whether they represent more than dialect difference between resident and migratory populations of a single species. The BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group therefore feels that more confirmatory work is needed before a decision to go with King's arrangement can be taken.

Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be common to uncommon (del Hoyo et al. 1999), while national population estimates include: c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs and c.1,000-10,000 individuals on migration in China; c.100-10,000 breeding pairs and c.50-1,000 individuals on migration in Taiwan; c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs and c.1,000-10,000 individuals on migration in Korea and c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs and c.1,000-10,000 individuals on migration in Japan (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification
The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Further web sources of information
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: Ninox scutulata. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 18/06/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 18/06/2013.

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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