Do Pigeons Have Ears?

We see pigeons all the time

But do pigeons have ears?

I mean have you ever seen an ear on them

Makes you wonder right?

Well, wonder no more because here’s the answer

Pigeons do have ears!

Yep that’s right

But here’s the thing

You can’t actually see them

Why?

Because they are hidden under their feathers

So they are not external

Rather they are hidden

Where exactly on their head is their ears?

Right where you think it is

The side of the head

Pigeon Ears – Interesting Facts

Did you know a pigeons ear is made up of three parts

External Ear 

Yes, I did mention they don’t have an external ear

But let me explain,

The ear has a small opening where the ear is located

This opening has a tube which allows sound-waves to be carried to the eardrum which is located in the middle of the ear

This leads me to the next part of their ear

Middle Ear 

The middle ear is pretty much the eardrum

Inner Ear 

The inner ear is the complicated sensory receptor

This decodes sound and also helps them balance

As you can see, the ear plays a massive role for birds

Just as we depend on our ears to hear things

Pigeons do the same too

Now you may be thinking

Won’t their hearing be slightly affected due to it being covered with feathers

You’d be surprised to know this is not the case

Birds actually have a better hearing sense than us humans

How?

Let me explain

The Head Of The Pigeon

If you see a pigeons head, you’d notice it’s actually round, oval heads

This is actually beneficial to pigeons when they hear

You see, when sound waves hit them

A large percentage of the sound-wave would go into the skull rather than bounce off

Now because of this, a pigeon can identify and measure the sound by using both internal ears

This allows pigeons to know exactly where the sound is coming from by observing the difference in volume in each ear

By knowing exactly where the sound comes from, it could help pigeons navigate long distances

Amazing right?

That’s not all though

Here’s another way how their hearing is better than us humans

The Feathers Covering The Ears

When we think feathers covering the ears

The first thought is, won’t that muffle the sounds entering the ears?

You’re right it actually would

But here’s the thing,

The feathers that cover the ears are different

You see, most feathers on birds are designed in a grid style structure

This helps trap air to make flight easy

But the feathers covering the ears are called auricular feathers

This type of feathers actually have large gaps between the fibers

A bit like how a fan is – it’s spaced out

And this allows sound to pass through to the ears pretty much unobstructed

You can see the difference between the two feather types by clicking here 

Can Pigeons Hear Us?

Yes, they can hear us clearly as they have excellent hearing abilities as mentioned in this article

Wrapping Up

Pigeons do have ears

It’s just that we cannot see them as they are hidden under the feathers at the side of the head where ears are usually located

Pigeons can hear better than us because of the shape of their head

Here’s some other related articles about pigeons that you may find interesting

Do pigeons blink?

Do pigeons eat baby birds?

Why do pigeons fly into windows?

Pigeon Kissing

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