Do Birds Have Ears ? Hearing in birds is as important as their vision, externally ears not visible like their eyes some say or get confused that birds do not possess ears, whatsoever the tale and debates are, Naturally birds have two ears that are covered by small soft feathers.
Yes, Birds have two ears but ears are not visible since it is covered by feathers to protect the ears from wind, air-turbulence, and water during rain and diving in the water. However, in vultures and turkey, we can see ears.
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How Do Birds Ears ?
What do you think When a bird sings, calls, and attracts the distant and unseen birds, does the distant and unseen bird hears if so can I say they have hears, right? Simply, if birds can sing then they hear, or if they can hear they can sing. Thus we can say that birds have ears. Let’s explore more about bird ears such as the shape, size, position, and amazing facts of the bird’s ear.
The location of the ear is slightly behind and below the eyes, and on most birds, they are covered with soft feathers called auriculars for protection. The position of the ear in birds varies from type of birds, For most of the bird’s ears are present on both lateral side of the head, slightly behind and below their eyes that is symmetric in position.
However, the position of ears in the owls is different, one ear is higher, and the other is lower in position on the head, which is asymmetric in position.
Internal and External parts of the Ear
The Shape of the ears is funnel-shaped to focus sound. The external ear is absent in birds so the external ear function is carried by the bird’s head itself. The external ear in mammals called pinna helps to detect the sound directions so the animals like foxes, dogs orient their external ear in the direction of sound without moving their head sometimes.
Whereas the internal ear present in birds are similar to mammals such as humans, cats, fox, etc. that include three parts, outer ear, middle ear, and third and final part. The inner ear.
Can we see the bird’s Ears Easily? Yes, We can see birds easily in bald birds, that is birds without feathers on head and necks such as vultures.
What Are The Uses Of Sounds In Birds?
Sound is helpful during the Hunting. For some birds, Sound is often more important than sight. For example, the nocturnal birds use their ears more efficiently than their eyes due to they are in dark thus ears help them to catch prey such as rats, insects, snakes, etc.
- Territorial defense calls: When other inter-species or intra-species try to enter their territory for food, nesting, nesting materials, or even mate.
- Feeding calls: from parent to chicks or vice-versa.
- Migration calls: Before starting migration most birds call the members to join for migration.
- Morning call: Of course you know and heard morning call as it occurs daily.
- Singing call: to attract distant and unseen birds.
- Pleasure calls and mating calls: Calling for their lovely mates.
- Aggressive calls: When basic facilities such as food, water, nesting place, available female birds are scarce, birds can be aggressive.
- Fight call: During protecting the nests, eggs, or chicks from predators.
- Flight calls: Some birds give flight calls before they launch their flight.
- Communicating to the flock members: Birds communicate with their flock members to engage in flight, migration, to call them to share food when they find it (behavior is seen in crows).
- To alarm the threat: When one or few birds notices the threat they alarm through sounds to alert the remaining flock members.
How Do Birds Produce Sounds ?
Birds Produce Sounds through vocal cords called Syrinx. For example, Frigate birds, and Storks clack their mandibles together to produce sounds. Through wings Male club-winged manakins rub their complicated wing feathers together at super-high speeds like crickets, making a violin-like sound like in this vibration.
Bird Hearing Anatomy
There are three parts of ears that are present in birds, namely
- The Outer Ear: The outer ear absorbs sounds from the outer environment and passes it to the eardrum.
- The Middle Ear: The middle ear sends the vibrations from the eardrum to the columella bone. The inner ear sends the vibrations to the nerve receptors to the brain.
- The Inner Ear: The inner ear sends the vibrations to the nerve receptors to the brain. Birds do not have external ears called pinna as like it is present in mammals, However, In birds, the head itself acts as an external ear that is recently discovered.
How Do Birds Hear Without Ears? Birds can hear sounds without external ears because it has internal earring parts such as outer, middle, and inner ear parts that are responsible for hearing, and the bird’s head itself acts as an external ear as the external ear is absent in birds.
Which Birds have the Best Hearing? The nocturnal birds such as owls and nightjar have the best hearing ability.
Read More : Do Ducks Have Feathers?
6 Amazing Facts about Bird Ears
- In owls ears, we can see the eyeballs of eyes because eyeballs of owls are so big that they protrude into the owl’s ears cavity.
- In the great horned owl, The tufts or ear-like structure present in the owls head are not actually ears and it has nothing to do with hearing.
- Birds ears play a more important role along with hearing, which is part of the ear’s help in balancing a bird’s body.
- Bird’s ears lack external ears called pinna that are present in mammals such as cat and fox, etc which they orient in the direction of sounds.
- Birds’ heads or skills act as external ears because they lack or don’t need external ears or pinna.
- The outer part of bird ears is in contact with air and the next continuing part is the fluid-filled part.
FAQ :
Do pigeons have ears? Yes, all birds including pigeons have ears that are capable of hearing almost like or more than the human ear can. But the ears in pigeons are not visible externally as they are being covered by a soft feather to protect it from wind and water during the flight and swimming respectively.
Do swans have ears? Yes, all birds including swans have ears that are capable of hearing almost like or more than the human ear can. But the ears in swans are not visible externally as they are being covered by a soft feather to protect it from wind and water during the flight and swimming respectively.
Do mammals have external ears? Of course, mammals have external ears and are called pinna that can be movable in some animals like fox, cats, dogs, and cattle to find the direction of the sound sources. The function of the external ear is to collect sound waves and send them to internal ears.
