Do parrots have exceptional hearing?

[kme3388]

The reason I ask is because of my macaw. Please don’t take this as me complaining about his screaming. It’s just how he expresses himself I think? When I come home, and open the garage he screams. I can hear it on our ring camera. When people walk by our house he goes to the top of his cage to watch everyone. I have had his blinds closed at night so he can’t see outside all of the time. He still acts the same way. Instead of watching people walk by he screams instead. If I open the fridge he will start screaming as I give him a piece of birdie bread as a treat every evening. The fridge is on a different floor than him.

 

[kme3388]

PS my human superpowers don’t exist. I got the short end of the stick. I don’t get to spit saliva that can tranquillize an elephant. No xray vision or hearing here. I got ripped off when it comes to abilities.

 

[rheashard2]

Yup. They can identify individual motor sounds too. My CAG would scream..(name's) home. Based on motor or sound of key in what ever door was being opened. She yells come in when Amazon truck stops in front of house. Don't know how she learned that. She can only hear the sounds. Even morning sun can get too hot in this part of Texas. She can identify our dogs barking outside. She ignores every other one. So you have a feathered welcome wagon.

 

[Macawdamia Nut]

I do think birds have excellent hearing. My macaw is not a squawker (rarely makes a sound), but he definitely perks up when he hears the electric garage door open and his dad is home!

If he hears people talking in another room, he runs through the house to be with his flock. There will be no conversation without him being involved!

He loves to sit in his outdoor cage and listen to the wild birds, fountain and wind chimes. Some bird calls freak him out a bit (hawk?), but the songbird sounds he seems to enjoy.

He can tune out sound when he is sleeping. His indoor cage is in our living room. It is dark in that room at night, but I have to walk past his cage to get from the kitchen and family room to the master bedroom. I walk past his cage at night and his head will be tucked into his back sound asleep. Sometimes I stand next to his cage and speak softly to him to let him know it’s me—and he completely ignores me, continuing to snooze uninterrupted. Maybe he is in a deep sleep or maybe he is hoping I would just go away!

 

[texsize]

Very good hearing.
Bella can hear my wife getting up long before I do..

When coming back from running errands I can hear them through the door before I get close.

And this isn’t hearing but when I take Bingo out for a drive he knows when we enter our neighborhood and starts getting excited.

 

[TiredOldMan]

My BOSS claims my U2 could identify my truck when I turned off the main road to my road. That is a quarter mile away and my truck isn't loud. Stock everything.
I can't move anywhere in the house without the CAG alerting even in the wee hours of the night. And trust me I'm dead quiet(at least for a mostly deaf person) to not wake the BOSS.

 

[kme3388]

I wonder if they can differentiate things too. Blue says crackers over anything he considers to be a treat. He never says crackers when I am feeding him pellets, or chop. If I take out his pine nuts for training he’s screaming crackers. When I put different treats in his puzzle toy he always goes for the almonds first. If I could fit pecans in his spinning wheel he’d go for them first. The hazel nuts, Brazil nuts, and walnuts he’ll eat later.

 

[rheashard2]

I wonder if they can differentiate things too. Blue says crackers over anything he considers to be a treat. He never says crackers when I am feeding him pellets, or chop. If I take out his pine nuts for training he’s screaming crackers. When I put different treats in his puzzle toy he always goes for the almonds first. If I could fit pecans in his spinning wheel he’d go for them first. The hazel nuts, Brazil nuts, and walnuts he’ll eat later.

This is true. Hearing is first. As they hear treat wheel, cup , toy, etc head will turn. Then identifying begins. Sight is next to go to the exam and prioritize. It's fun to watch her rattle, roll the foraging toy.

 

[wrench13]

Birds in general have excellent hearing.

 

[GaleriaGila]

What Wrenchie said!
The Rb, at 40 years, has deteriorating eyesight and stamina, but his hearing is still awesome. Example... if someone zips a zipper anywhere in the house, even a quiet one, he "returns the call" with his zipper mimic, at about a hundred decibels, of course!

 

[JjEjFjF]

And this isn’t hearing but when I take Bingo out for a drive he knows when we enter our neighborhood and starts getting excited.

When i take my bird to the vet(2 hr drive each way) she knows when we’re getting close to home. Its quite amazing.

 

[rheashard2]

When i take my bird to the vet(2 hr drive each way) she knows when we’re getting close to home. Its quite amazing.

Too true, they know! CAG knows vet, Petsmart, McD's, Whataburger, to name a few. It's comical. She gets quieter, quieter the closer to vet we get. Then becomes happier and happier as we leave. She knows her quarterly (or longer) 3 fries are due only after vet trips.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

People always ask about whether parrots have a good sense of smell; whether they reject eggs or chicks that "smell like humans" like a mammal might. I'm pretty sure parrots' sense of smell isn't highly developed like their vision and hearing is. Birds mostly use their excellent vision to find food. They see colors we can't and apparently birds distinguish males from females by these unseen colors. Wouldn't it be great if we could put on special glasses and see these colors! I think carrion eating birds do use smell but I'm not certain.

 

[rheashard2]

I too would like to see these not visible to humans colors. It makes me wonder because I have talked to people whose parrots have color issues. One brand of red, blue etc color is acceptable. A color that 'looks' the same is rejected. It can even be as simple as lot #. Sometimes this is aggressively so. Many carrion eaters aka my neighborhood vultures can smell very well but (always is) they depend heavily upon breezes to maintain lift. I doubt it's as useful in a metro area compared to the open.

 

[JjEjFjF]

I'm pretty sure parrots' sense of smell isn't highly developed

I dont know about highly developed but i do know they have a good sense of smell and can recognize what theyre smelling. Example , If i make toast or cook eggs, my birds can smell it. They love both so they get excited. Theres also something about certain millet spray. They dont even have to taste it to reject it. There must be some kind of smell on it that they dont like.

 

[Rozalka]

Answering if parrots have a good hearing - actually they have a similar range to humans but because of feathers covering their ears, it's slightly worse. Surprise.
(the answer based on a book about budgies and a post about parrots' hearing)

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I dont know about highly developed but i do know they have a good sense of smell and can recognize what theyre smelling. Example , If i make toast or cook eggs, my birds can smell it. They love both so they get excited. Theres also something about certain millet spray. They dont even have to taste it to reject it. There must be some kind of smell on it that they dont like.

But they can't smell human scent the way dogs can, right?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Answering if parrots have a good hearing - actually they have a similar range to humans but because of feathers covering their ears, it's slightly worse. Surprise.
(the answer based on a book about budgies and a post about parrots' hearing)

The posts above say their parrots can hear much better than they do. I guess it's hard to say for sure.

 

[rheashard2]

Curious so looked it up. Avian hearing is similar BUT works differently. It's not the feathers but lack of outer ear that's biggest difference. Some hear differently frequencies with each ear. Some have ears positioned sl different heights on each side. It depends upon species as to frequency of sound. Some hear better then humans, some worse. FYI; got side tracked. Birds dance for fun same as people. Some individuals/breeds enjoy it more then others. Some after observing people will make up their steps. Got side tracked because I am 1000% tone deaf! Singing, humming is not allowed PERIOD! My CAG has such a range of sounds. But she mimics me humming!

 

[kme3388]

For macaws anyway this is what google gave me for an answer. Not sure how accurate this is. I’m wondering if it will vary upon what species of parrot we are talking about.