Painted Desert (Arizona) plateau's south border the Mogollon Rim, the north border of the Arizona transition zone. Owing to the strong rain shadow of the Mogollon Rim, the Painted Desert has a cold desert climate (Köppen "BWk"), with hot, dry summers and cold, though virtually snow-free winters. The annual precipitation is the lowest in northern Arizona and in many places is lower even than Phoenix. Much of the region is accessible only by foot or unpaved road though major highways and paved roads cut across the area. The towns of Cameron and Tuba City, both on the Navajo Nation, are two major settlements.
Desert owl demonstrated that the holotype of "S. butleri" was not actually a member of this species, but was instead most likely an Omani owl (which had been described as a new species, "S. omanensis", in 2013). Because the allocation of "Strix butleri" to the Omani owl left the more widespread species without a name, the authors of the study named it "S. hadorami" after Israeli ornithologist Hadoram Shirihai, and gave it the new common name desert tawny owl (which has been subsequently shortened to desert owl by some authors). Desert owl The desert owl or desert tawny owl ("Strix hadorami"), formerly