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The animal on the cover of AI Engineering is an Omani owl (Strix butleri), a so-called “earless owl” native to Oman, Iran, and the UAE.

An owl collected in 1878 was dubbed Strix butleri after its discoverer, ornithologist Colonel Edward Arthur Butler. This bird was commonly known as Hume’s owl and it was thought to be widespread throughout the Middle East.

In 2013, a previously unknown species of owl was discovered in Oman and given the name Strix omanensis, the Omani owl. No physical specimen was collected, but the owl was described from photographs and sound recordings. Then, in 2015, an analysis of the Strix butleri holotype (the original specimen found in 1878) revealed that the owl was actually the same as Strix omanensis, and distinct from the more common owl found throughout the Middle East. Following naming conventions, the species kept the original name Strix butleri and the more common owl was given the name Strix hadorami, the desert owl.

The Omani owl has a pale and dark gray face and orange eyes. Its upperparts are a dark grayish brown and its underparts are pale gray with narrow dark streaks. It’s a medium-sized owl with a round head and no ear tufts. As a relatively new discovery, ornithologists are still researching the owl’s behavior, ecology, and distribution.

The IUCN conservation status of the Omani owl is data deficient. Many of the animals on O’Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world.

The cover illustration is by Karen Montgomery, based on an antique line engraving from Lydekker’s Royal Natural History. The series design is by Edie Freedman, Ellie Volckhausen, and Karen Montgomery. The cover fonts are Gilroy Semibold and Guardian Sans. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.