Birds distinguish odors

Q: Are birds able to distinguish odors?
George, San Antonio, Texas

A: The avian sense of smell has been traditionally underestimated, says Frank B. Gill, Senior Vice President for Science at Audubon in his book, Ornithology.

Most birds have small smell centers (olfactory bulbs) in their brain. Earlier researchers thought that only a few birds (vultures, kiwis and petrels) with large nerve smell centers used their sense of smell. "Now that view is changing," says Gill, "most birds probably can smell and use odors in their daily routines."

For example:

Male Mallards smell a female's breeding odors

Goslings learn to choose and reject food plants by smell

Leach's Storm-Petrels can smell krill (small shrimp-like creatures) from incredible distances (potentially 1.5 to 15 miles), and then follow the odor upwind to the food source.

Further Reading:

Birds & Science, Audubon

BirdWatchers Digest

USGS Biological Resources

(Answered June 2000; updated Jan. 15, 2008)