I noticed after taking my tag jazz out of his sleep cage that feathers around his ear opening were sticking out and somewhat matted together. The only food items in that cage are pellets which he never touches. Could he have possibly brought food up during the night and scratched at his ear? He seems perfectly fine (although i know they disguise illness) He eats, talks, plays like crazy.

Is the skin around the ear red, swollen or otherwise irritated looking?

everything looks fine. Actually you cannot even tell. That was the first thing i looked for was redness and swelling. I have no clue what it was. Thanks for your response!

I would keep an eye on jazz to see if he is scratching and give him a shower and see if it the area remains clean. If it returns, take him for a vet exam.

thanks jr... i am keeping a close eye on him. My initial response was to call the vet right away. The area seems to be pretty clean so i will keep watching! This bird sratches pretty often even before this.

How's is the patient today?

When it comes to ears, there could be an internal infection without any exterior redness or swelling. Next time, don't bathe the bird (you don't want any water going into his ear if he has an infection, it would just make it worse) but do use a wet Q-tip to rub the discharge. The vet (or even a technician) will be able to tell if this is pus or just food by looking at it under a microscope.

External infections are the ones where the ear opening looks red and swolen (easiest to take care of) but there are viral infections that can affect the internal part of the ear (paramyxo -is his sense of balance and/or weight normal?). Cancer can also cause discharge and it's sometimes confused with a chronic infection.

i noticed one feather sticking out tonight when i came home but nothing dried around the opening. If i see anything tomorrow morning i am taking him in. He acts perfectly normal, just chattering and whistling all day. He loves to play rough and today was one of those days

Morning! Hope he is much better today!

Having lost my macaw to liver disease 4 yrs ago I'm a little over cautious when it comes to things. I would at least call the vet and discuss it with him/her.

As Bea said, it could be nothing or it could be an internal ear problem.

Let us know how he'd doing.