Although neither the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) nor the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) are particularly well-suited to owls in general, enough Barred Owls are detected that both programs are able to produce highly precise long-term estimates. Overall, the BBS is considered somewhat more reliable because of its greater standardization. The national trends for both the BBS and CBC show steady increases ever since 1970, accelerating since around 2010, and resulting in current levels that are more than 300% above 1970 estimates. Combined, these two sources allow for very high confidence in the population having undergone a large increase, especially as breeding bird atlases in Ontario (Allair, 2007), Quebec (Toussaint, 2019), and the Maritimes (Lauff, 2015) also reflect substantial increases. Large increases have been recorded in all regions, but especially in southern Ontario and Quebec, where the population has more than quadrupled since 1970, and the Pacific coast, where abundance has increased by more than 550% over the same period. The Nocturnal Owl Survey is best suited to detecting Barred Owls, but only dates back to 2008 and has low precision; it shows little change over its first 14 years, in contrast to the BBS and CBC.

The goal for Barred Owl is to remain at or above its recent population level, based on the Breeding Bird Survey. Trend data show that Barred Owl is currently within its goal range. Although there is no reason to set an upper limit at a national scale, local restrictions may be appropriate in parts of southern British Columbia where the increasing Barred Owl population is considered to be among the factors threatening persistence of the endangered Spotted Owl.