Strix occidentalis has a population of c.15,000 individuals in four subspecies: caurina has a minimum of 3,778 pairs and 1,001 territorial individuals from south-west British Columbia, Canada, to north California, USA; the nominate has a minimum of 3,050 individuals in central and south California, USA, and (formerly) Baja California, Mexico; lucida has a minimum of 777-1,554 individuals from Utah and Colorado to Arizona, New Mexico and extreme west Texas, USA, and also occurs in Sonora, Chihuahua and Nuevo León to Jalisco, Durango, Michoacán and Guanajuanto, Mexico^1,3,4,5,8; and juanaphillipsae has been recently described from the State of México². Mexican populations may be stable because habitat tolerance is combined with forestry activities that typically modify rather than destroy habitat^5,6. Most other populations are declining and, in some, the decline is accelerating because of clear-felling and selective logging^3,7. The species is close to extinction in Canada.