Yanshuf

As with most of the owls, there is no complete agreement among the versions. It would appear at first that “screech owl” has strong support as the translation of yanshuf. However, this is misleading. The next Hebrew name on the list of unclean birds in Leviticus 11:18 and Deuteronomy 14:16 is tinshemeth, which NIV renders “white owl” and NAB “barn owl". In fact both white owl and barn owl are simply alternate names for the screech owl, which these two versions have included earlier in the list. They have thus actually listed the same owl twice. Among Jewish scholars the translation of tinshemet as barn owl has a long history, and in modern Hebrew this is the name of the barn owl. (See further discussion of tinshemet at 3.17.8 Tinshemet). Thus it seems best to translate yanshuf in some other way.

There are two likely candidates. For translators who have translated the word tachmas earlier in the list as “eared owl", yanshuf can be translated as “tawny owl". For those who decided to follow modern Hebrew usage and translate tachmas as “nightjar", it would be good to translate yanshuf as “eared owl", which also follows modern Hebrew usage.