Ears
In a healthy adult budgie, the ears are usually hidden by the plumage; and this is of course also the case for healthy adult individuals of other bird species. Budgies have one ear on either side of their head. The ears are located slightly below the respective eyes.
Unlike humans, birds don’t have earlobes. The ear of a bird is simply a small tunnel in its skull. This also applies to birds like for example the Northern Long-eared Owl who has ear-shaped feathers on the head that look like rabbit ears. Owls can’t actually hear with these ornamental feathers. Like in budgies, tiny “tunnels” inside their head are their true ears.
A bird’s ears can only be spotted easily as long as no feathers are covering it. That’s why the ears of young birds are visible, but only until the feathers grow. If adult birds with an intact plumage have taken a bath, sometimes their feathers are stuck by the water. Then one can see the ears that look like small holes.
