Ashy-faced owl

The ashy-faced owl was formally described in 1852 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup and given the binomial name Strix glaucops.[4] The specific epithet is from Ancient Greek glaukos meaning "blue-grey" or "glaucous".[5] Kaup specified the type locality as Jamaica. This was an error and has been corrected to Hispaniola.[6] The ashy-faced owl is now placed in the genus Tyto that was introduced in 1828 by Gustaf Johan Billberg.[3]

The taxonomy of the ashy-faced owl is unsettled. At one time it was considered conspecific with the barn owl sensu lato (Tyto alba).[7] After the separation the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) long treated it as monotypic but in July 2023 moved two subspecies from the American barn owl (Tyto furcata) into it.[3] The North American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (AOS/NACC) and the Clements taxonomy retain it as monotypic.[8][9] In 2022 the AOS/NACC rejected a proposal to make that move.[10] BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) has long treated the ashy-faced owl as having the three subspecies recognized by the IOC, and adds a fourth that the other three taxonomies do not recognize as part of any species.[11]

This article follows the IOC treatment with these three subspecies:[3]

• T. g. glaucops (Kaup, 1852) – Hispaniola
• T. g. nigrescens (Lawrence, 1878) – Dominica
• T. g. insularis (Pelzeln, 1872) – Saint Vincent to Grenada (south Lesser Antilles)

The ashy-faced owl is 27 to 33 cm (11 to 13 in) long. Males weigh about 260 to 350 g (9.2 to 12 oz) and females about 460 to 540 g (16 to 19 oz). Adults of the nominate subspecies T. g. glaucops have a silvery gray facial disc. Their upperparts are dark grayish brown with paler and dusky vermiculation. Their wings have buff or tawny mottling and their underparts are tawny with some darker barring. They have light, dark, and intermediate morphs. Their iris is blackish brown, their bill yellowish horn, and their legs and feet grayish brown. Juveniles are similar to adults with a darker gray face.[7]

Subspecies T. g. insularis has a vinaceous-brown facial disc. Its upperparts are blackish gray with sparse white spots and streaks. Its wings are darker than its upperparts and have tawny mottling and feather edges. Its underparts are cinnamon-buff with dusky mottling and a few white spots. Subspecies T. g. nigrescens is very similar to insularis but has almost no white on its upperparts and less mottling on its underparts.[12]

The nominate subspecies of the ashy-faced owl is found on the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and on Île de la Tortue of the northwestern Haitian coast. T. g. insularis is found on the islands of St. Vincent, Bequia, Union, Carriacou, and Grenada in the southern Lesser Antilles. T. g. nigrescens is found on the island of Dominica in the north-central Lesser Antilles.[3][7][12]

On Hispaniola the ashy-faced owl inhabits a wide variety of landscapes, both natural and human-altered. The former include open woodlands, denser broadleaf forest, and scrublands. The latter includes farmlands, oil-palm plantations, solitary buildings, and villages and towns. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The other two subspecies also use essentially all available habitats on their small islands.[7][12]

The IUCN has assessed the ashy-face owl as being of Least Concern. Though it has a somewhat limited range and its population size is not known, the latter is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] The species is "[w]idespread and locally common on Hispaniola". The "[s]tatus of Lesser Antillean subspecies [are] insufficiently known, but nigrescens appears to be common on Dominica, whereas insularis is rare on St Vincent and Grenada and in Grenadines, and might be vulnerable to habitat destruction and pesticide usage."[12]