Olfactory sense in birds....? (1 Viewer)

[KenM]

I understand that male Emperor moths can sense pheromones released by a female...from up to 5 miles!

I also believe that ''chumming'' can attract tubenoses from beyond the horizon (20-30 miles), when prior to the action, no seabirds were visible!

Many years ago during early May, I had ''heavily'' horse-manured (for planting runner beans), my ''L'' shaped garden strip border 6'x9'x2' bordered by a concrete drive/garage wall with adjacent trees/wooden fence, and an overlooking 4 storey block of flats.

My wife called me...to look at a ''funny'' bird on the border...My jaw dropped!..a male Wheatear! Clearly on passage and dropping down for refuelling...in the most unlikely of habitats!

A co-incidence.....or an extremely acute sense of smell?

Cheers

 

[Peter C.]

How interesting! I know sense of smell has been tested in new word Vultures, and found to be very acute; at the same time, the "received wisdom" is that it (and taste) are weak in most other orders, including passerines. I wonder, now, about whether it has really been tested in passerines, and how.

 

[dantheman]

I've often thought that sense of smell in eg passerines must be stronger than previously thought - otherwise how on earth do passage migrants know which kind of habitat type to drop into when flying at night. Ok, I know birds turn up in odd places, but the majority turn up exactly where they should.

 

[ChrisKten]

A short essay that might interest some of you:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Avian_Sense.html

And something else to consider, as smell might not be as important to Birds as we might think:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biology/research/behaviour/vision/4d.html

All goes way over my head of course

 

[KenM]

My ''science'' is at best, pretty crude!...but using the Emperor moth analogy, does kinda suggest...that ''higher'' life forms, might just be at least...equal!...If not significantly superior?

 

[JamesA]

My wife did part of her undergrad dissertation on olfaction in Harris Hawks. Over a series of various "which pot has food in it?" tests over a few months, the bird had a 49% success rate, suggesting that it was just guessing. So that bird at least couldn't smell the various foods/smells used on it.

Assuming that the bird she tested wasn't broken, I'm still a bit surprised at that.

 

[Andy Hurley]

My wife did part of her undergrad dissertation on olfaction in Harris Hawks. Over a series of various "which pot has food in it?" tests over a few months, the bird had a 49% success rate, suggesting that it was just guessing. So that bird at least couldn't smell the various foods/smells used on it.

Assuming that the bird she tested wasn't broken, I'm still a bit surprised at that.

I would have though eyesight and hearing were more important to predatory birds than smell. They are latching to movement and at night sound to catch their prey. with vultures, old and new world, they are relying on finding carrion so olfactory efficency and sight, where are the kills happening, are more important than sound. I'm not a studied biologist, just applying laymans logic gleaned over my lifetime.

 

[birdboybowley]

Interesting stuff....but surely belongs in 'Birds and Birding', not the ID section??

 

[A2GG]

My wife did part of her undergrad dissertation on olfaction in Harris Hawks. Over a series of various "which pot has food in it?" tests over a few months, the bird had a 49% success rate, suggesting that it was just guessing. So that bird at least couldn't smell the various foods/smells used on it.

Assuming that the bird she tested wasn't broken, I'm still a bit surprised at that.

In the Cornell bird biology book used for the home-study course it stated that only some species of Vultures and some species of Pelagic birds had enhanced sense of smell while the rest of the bird world, it is believed, do not have the best sense of smell (worse than humans if I remember correctly).

 

[stonechat1]

Interesting stuff....but surely belongs in 'Birds and Birding', not the ID section??

:t:

 

[chris butterworth]

I can understand how a sense of smell would develop in certain groups of birds - such as New World Vultures, sea birds and Kiwis - but, for the majority of passerines I can see no evolutionary advantage. Most, if not all, passerine feeding behaviour seems to be focused on sight ( only based on personal observations of behaviour ). If, as in Kens example, Northern Wheatear use a sense of smell to find suitable habitat (i.e. dunged land ) for prey acquisition, then why are most sightings from coastal dunes and short grazed turf on migration, and the majority of their breeding areas on unimproved ( non-dunged ) land? And the fact that the other species of Wheatear occur in far wilder places? I've just checked on the olfactory organs of birds in Campbell & Lack ; A Dictionary of Birds : 1985, Poyser, London and, although all birds have olfactory receptors that are similar to those of mammals, the size of the olfactory bulb in the brain ( processing power ) is extremely variable, the smallest being in, among others, passerines.

Chris

Like others, I think this would have fitted better in the Birds and Birding forums Ken. It may have gotten more replies.

C

 

[pianoman]

Wheaters do love manure! Especially horse. But I think it's possible that they would recognise it by sight from a long way away. Especially with 4 primary colour receptors instead of our three.

 

[jmepler]

I tend to think that much of this type of behavior is learned.

If you are out in the ocean in a boat you will attract birds. They have learned that people on boats often chum, either to attract fish or birds, not to mention the offal associated with commercial fishing. While those on the boat can't see the birds, the birds can see the boat, which they associate with an easy meal.

I grew up on a farm and would see how different activities attracted different birds. During spring plowing the gulls would arrive in huge flocks to feed on worms and grubs that were unearthed. In the summer when we were cutting hay huge swarms of swallows would follow me back and forth through the fields catching the insects that were stirred up by the equipment. I also had a Red-tailed Hawk that would sit next to the field were I was baling hay, waiting for the mice and voles to be flushed from the windrows.

Just Pavlovian responses based on sight and past experiences in my opinion.

Mike

 

[dantheman]

Most, if not all, passerine feeding behaviour seems to be focused on sight ( only based on personal observations of behaviour ).


A Dictionary of Birds [/B]: 1985, Poyser, London and, although all birds have olfactory receptors that are similar to those of mammals, the size of the olfactory bulb in the brain ( processing power ) is extremely variable, the smallest being in, among others, passerines.

I think if you were to look at the processing power of invertebrate smell sense centres you would find it a lot smaller again - and yet they use chemical (smell) cues to a high degree!

I can see (smell?) that line of research as being possibly flawed

I'd assume that smell in passerines IS important eg Pied Flycatcher knows it's in an oak wood because it recognises the leaves? Or the aroma?

Different habitats have their own distinct flora, which is often quite aromatic/strong. I'd be surprised if birds couldn't use this. Likewise with finding food - invertebrates/ripening fruit etc give off strong chemical cues.

 

[Larry Lade]

Thread now moved to "Birds & Birding" Forum.

 

[Jim M.]

I tend to think that much of this type of behavior is learned.

If you are out in the ocean in a boat you will attract birds. They have learned that people on boats often chum, either to attract fish or birds, not to mention the offal associated with commercial fishing. While those on the boat can't see the birds, the birds can see the boat, which they associate with an easy meal.

I grew up on a farm and would see how different activities attracted different birds. During spring plowing the gulls would arrive in huge flocks to feed on worms and grubs that were unearthed. In the summer when we were cutting hay huge swarms of swallows would follow me back and forth through the fields catching the insects that were stirred up by the equipment. I also had a Red-tailed Hawk that would sit next to the field were I was baling hay, waiting for the mice and voles to be flushed from the windrows.

Just Pavlovian responses based on sight and past experiences in my opinion.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I'm guessing you have not been on many pelagic trips. While some birds, e.g. gulls, certainly do make a habit of following boats and are certainly responding to visual cues, other birds certainly do respond to smell. There's really no other way to explain the fact that many birds, e.g. Storm-petrels, generally ignore boats until they start to chum or drip fish oil.

Best,
Jim

 

[jmepler]

Hi Mike,

I'm guessing you have not been on many pelagic trips. While some birds, e.g. gulls, certainly do make a habit of following boats and are certainly responding to visual cues, other birds certainly do respond to smell. There's really no other way to explain the fact that many birds, e.g. Storm-petrels, generally ignore boats until they start to chum or drip fish oil.

Best,
Jim

Hi Jim,

I am going on my first pelagic in less than two weeks. Maybe we can test the theory if I can get the captain to just open up the chum and let the smell out.

Mike

 

[dantheman]

I am going on my first pelagic in less than two weeks. Maybe we can test the theory if I can get the captain to just open up the chum and let the smell out.

Think it's been proven already .. Enjoy.


And they're called tubenoses for the olfactory processes visible on their bills ...

 

[KenM]

Years ago...between mid-March and circa the first week in May, I used to ''bird'' the KGV group of reservoirs (N.E. London), two huge concrete banked stretches of water divided by a causeway, in total perhaps c2 miles long, at both ends horses grazed. Although odd birds could be found along the grassy banks, concentrations of 1-9 would be more likely found in the respective horse fields, and be seen to take invertebrates in, and or around the horse dung. Hoping..this might just, put my back garden incident into perspective?

 

[Ruff]

I'm guessing that many of the birds that are suspected of acting on a sense of smell are actually clueing in on their prey species of insects, either by sight or by sound or by both. And I'm no bird, but one species of tree or shrub sounds very different from another when the wind is blowing through it, and of course a bird might hear fellow species twittering around in the dark. North American turkey vultures OTOH very definitely do clue in on the smell of carrion- I've known them to come wheeling in looking for chickens that had been buried days before, and they could clearly identify the exact spots too.