The Canadian population of Short-eared Owl is monitored to some extent by both the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and the Christmas Bird Count (CBC), although neither source has high reliability. Overall, the CBC likely provides a more reliable signal of population trend, as it has potential to sample a larger part of the population, and precision is high. The BBS also has high precision, but primarily samples the southern part of the Canadian breeding population, which is at most a medium proportion of the total, and therefore may not be representative. The continental CBC trend shows a decline from the early 1970s to mid-1990s, and fluctuations around a lower level since then, with a cumulative loss of 56% since 1970. The Canadian BBS trend shows a largely similar pattern, but with greater cumulative loss, amounting to 84% of the 1970 population. Breeding Bird Atlases in Ontario (Gahbauer, 2007), Quebec (Shaffer, 2019), and the Maritimes (Lauff, 2015) also show reductions in occurrence over time, supporting the overall indication of a large long-term decline.

The goal for Short-eared Owl is to increase the population to the level it was at in the early 1970s, based on the Christmas Bird Count. Trend data show that Short-eared Owl is currently below its goal range, but it has shown an increase over the past decade. Analysis considering the historical population loss and recent trend suggests that it is unlikely that the goal can be met by 2050, so the interim target is to reach 90% of the goal by 2050. Achieving this target, and ultimately reaching the national goal for this species, will require deliberate conservation action. This is more ambitious than the objectives in the Management Plan for Short-eared Owl under the Species at Risk Act, which calls for stabilizing the population between 2018 and 2028, and then ensuring a positive trend after 2028, with recolonization of previously occupied areas in the southern portion of its Canadian breeding range.