Between 10 – 13 races are currently recognized. They differ in size – the smallest owls occurring in northeast Africa and the largest in Asia. The color of the plumage range from various shades of grey-brown, rufous-brown to yellowish-brown.
- Little Owl (Athene noctua noctua – Scopoli, 1769) – Nominate Form
- Range: Central Europe, from South Germany to Sardinia and Sicily, and east to Romania.
- ID: White-speckled brown above and brown-streaked white below.
- Subspecies:
- [Athene noctua sarda] – Usually considered invalid
[Athene noctua daciae] – Usually considered invalid
[Athene noctua salentina] – Usually considered invalid
- [Athene noctua sarda] – Usually considered invalid
- [North African Little Owl(Athene noctua glaux or Athene lilith glaux – Savigny, 1809)]
- Range: Northern Africa, and coastal Israel south from Haifa in northern Israel.
- Recent findings place this race as subspecies of the Lilith Owl (Athene [noctua] lilith).
- Bactrian Little Owl, Hutton’s Owlet, Hutton’s Little Owl (Athene noctua bactriana – Blyth, 1847)
- Range: Southeastern Azerbaijan, eastern Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan east through central Asia to the Balkhash Lake.
- Range overlaps with race or ssp. lilith in Iraq.
- South-east European Little Owl (Athene noctua indigena or Athene lilith indigena – C. L. Brehm, 1855)
- Range: Albania, southeastern Yugoslavia, southern and eastern Romania, southern Ukraine, south Russia, Caucasus and southwestern Siberia, south to Crete, Turkey (except southeastern parts) and Middle East south to Haifa in northern Israel.
- Range overlaps with ssp. vidalii over wide area in northwestern Russia, central Russia, northern Ukraine and Belarus; and with nominate form noctua in former Yugoslavia.
- Recent findings place this race as subspecies of the Lilith Owl (Athene [noctua] lilith).
- North Western Little Owl (Athene noctua vidalii – A. E. Brehm, 1857)
- Range: Western and northern Europe, from the southern Baltic Sea to Iberia, including Balearic Island) and east to northwestern Russia.
- Range overlaps with ssp. indigena over wide area in northwestern Russia, central Russia, northern Ukraine and Belarus; and nominate form noctua over a wide area from southern France east to Czech and Slovak Republics
- Subspecies:
- [Athene noctua grueni] – usually considered invalid
- [Athene noctua cantabriensis] – usually considered invalid
- East African Barred Owlet, Red Sea Little Owl (Athene noctua spilogastra – Heuglin, 1869)
- Range: Eastern Sudan and northern Ethiopia.
- Little Owl (Athene noctua plumipes – Swinhoe, 1870)
- Range: Northeast China, Mongolia and Ussuriland.
- Little Owl (Athene noctua orientalis – Severetzov, 1873
- Range: Extreme northwestern China and adjacent Siberia.
- Somali Little Owl (Athene noctua somaliensis – Reichenow, 1905)
- Range: Eastern Ethiopia and Somalia.
- Saharan Little Owl (Athene noctua saharae – Kleinschmidt, 1909)
- Range: Northern and central Sahara Desert south to the African countries of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan, and east discontinuously into Arabian Peninsula.
- Range overlaps with race or ssp. lilith in Saudi Arabia
- [Athene noctua solitudinis] – usually considered invalid / believed to be synonymous with saharae (one and the same).
- [Athene noctua desertae] – Proposed race
- Range: North Africa
- ID: Paler plumage
- [Lilith Owl, Hartert’s Little Owl, Levant Little Owl or Syrian Little Owl(Athene noctua lilith or Athene lilith – Hartert, 1913)]
- Latest findings place the Lilith Owl as a full species with races glaux and indigena as subspecies.
- Range: Island of Cyprus and inland Middle East from southeastern Turkey south to southern Sinai.
- Range overlaps with ssp. saharae in Saudi Arabia and with ssp. bactriana in Iraq.
- ID: Pale grey-brown plumage.
- Little Owl (Athene noctua ludlowi – Stuart Baker, 1926)
- Range: South central China and southern and eastern Tibet, south to northern Himalayas.
- Little Owl (Athene noctua impasta – Bangs and J. L. Peters, 1928)
- Range: Found in the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu (western parts) located in the northwest of the People’s Republic of China.
