Spotted owl (Caurina subspecies) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 1
COSEWIC Assessment Summary
Assessment Summary – April 2008
Common name : Spotted Owl – Caurina subspecies
Scientific name : Strix occidentalis caurina
Status : Endangered
Reason for designation : This owl requires old-growth forests for its survival and has suffered a catastrophic population decline over the past 50 years as habitat is lost and fragmented. With the severely depressed population, an additional threat is the recent arrival of the closely related Barred Owl as a breeding bird in B.C.; this species competes with and hybridizes with the present species. Its historical population of about 500 adult owls in Canada has been reduced to 19, and only 10 of these are in breeding pairs. All adults are old and near the end of their breeding age and there is no recruitment of young owls into the population. If current trends are not reversed, extirpation will likely occur within the next decade.
Occurrence : British Columbia
Status history : Designated Endangered in April 1986. Status re–examined and confirmed in April 1999, May 2000, and April 2008.
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