The holotype of Strix butleri was collected by the English ornithologist Colonel Edward Arthur Butler.

[5] Over the following century, similar owls seen, heard and collected in the Middle East were presumed to belong to the same species, but this was shown in 2015 to be incorrect.

It was described only from photographs and sound recordings, without a physical specimen or genetic sample.

The Omani owl has a bi-coloured pale and dark grey face with orange eyes, dark greyish brown upperparts, pale underparts with long, narrow vertical dark streaks, relatively long legs, banded wings, and a banded tail.

[4] The Omani owl has been observed in high rocky cliffs, but not in nearby wadis.