Using a bloodhound to find rarities (2 Viewers)

[Jacob McLaren]

Hi!

So I had this really dumb idea. Already explained in the title. But would it work? They seem to be capable of some pretty astounding stuff.

I'm not sure if it would be possible to train one to have a long "list" of rare birds that it was always on the lookout for, but perhaps it could be trained to search for just a few specific species? Or maybe to just target a single species at a time?

Not that it would make birding more fun or anything. I'm just picturing finding hundreds of rarities with such a wacky method and I'm thinking, "what if it's actually possible?"

Thoughts?

 

[etudiant]

An interesting idea, although I'd always thought that dogs search more with their nose than with their eyes.
The question would be whether different bird species have different scents, plus whether there is enough of a scent trail for a dog to pick up.
Has any research been done on this ever?

 

[Jacob McLaren]

I wasn't thinking of them using their eyes haha. Only used words like "lookout" for want of better. Maybe I should have said "smellout".

Just having read the wikipedia page for the dog breed, it seems they are commonly trained to distinguish between individual people by scent, even from long distances. I remember reading somewhere that dogs have been used to diagnose diseases by scent even.

 

[Richard Prior]

Welcome to Birdforum Jacob!
I don’t know whether dogs can smell birds as they can mammals but your idea is not really in the interest of our feathered friends. ‘The welfare of the bird comes first’ is one of the golden rules of birding and sending a dog into habitat with the sole purpose of flushing them into view would fall into the deliberate disturbance bracket I reckon.
Patience and good fieldcraft can yield good sightings .

 

[DMW]

I believe dog was used to locate the remaining wild Kakapos in NZ in this way, allowing capture and relocation to predator-free islands.

 

[earlytorise]

Welcome to Birdforum Jacob!
I don’t know whether dogs can smell birds as they can mammals but your idea is not really in the interest of our feathered friends. ‘The welfare of the bird comes first’ is one of the golden rules of birding and sending a dog into habitat with the sole purpose of flushing them into view would fall into the deliberate disturbance bracket I reckon.
Patience and good fieldcraft can yield good sightings .

Could they be trained to indicate the presence of a rare bird in a discreet way, like raising their right paw? Haha

 

[delia todd]

Could they be trained to indicate the presence of a rare bird in a discreet way, like raising their right paw? Haha

That was my first thought.... like Pointers.

 

[dantheman]

There have been a few good rarities found by people's dogs when out walking - including pointer/gun dog types. Don't recall any specific examples sorry!

 

[Farnboro John]

In the Eighties "Ticker Dog" - a grey local lurcher I think - was a regular feature on Scilly. He would accompany birders around St Mary's and was legendary for leaping walls and hedges to then work his way along a field border or round the field walls/hedges. He certainly put onto show more than one skulker that had been successfully lurking in cover. "Put Ticker Dog in" was a regular suggestion but I suspect he actually just did his own thing.

John

 

[Mono]

Dogs have been trained to sniff out birds for conservation purposes.

Sniffer dogs trained to find seabirds

An innovative study, led by the RSPB, has been testing the ability of canines to track burrow-nesting species.

www.birdguides.com

 

[KenM]

Lesser rares apart, (Woodlark, Woodcock and Short eared Owl etc), my old boy (Boxer) between ‘92- 98 flushed OBP, Yellow breasted Bunting and Richard’s Pipit on Epping Forest spaces, first and last were well attended, the second didn’t hang around.
Fair to say he was sorely missed and was never trained, just loved to run, often with nose close to ground.

 

[Warixenjalka]

Even dogs have very good noses, I doubt that they can't smell the differences between birds that are at least very closely related to each other (e.g. Dunnock and Mountain Accentor - you sure have similar bird pairs in Canada), especially small birds that jump on branches. And one problem is to found those rare birds at the stage when training the dog.

 

[Jacob McLaren]

Welcome to Birdforum Jacob!
I don’t know whether dogs can smell birds as they can mammals but your idea is not really in the interest of our feathered friends. ‘The welfare of the bird comes first’ is one of the golden rules of birding and sending a dog into habitat with the sole purpose of flushing them into view would fall into the deliberate disturbance bracket I reckon.
Patience and good fieldcraft can yield good sightings .

Of course, not anything I was thinking of putting into practice haha, just a silly idea.
Although I don't think it would be necessary for it to flush birds, just indicate their nearby presence somehow (like a pointer, as others said).

 

[Jacob McLaren]

Even dogs have very good noses, I doubt that they can't smell the differences between birds that are at least very closely related to each other (e.g. Dunnock and Mountain Accentor - you sure have similar bird pairs in Canada), especially small birds that jump on branches. And one problem is to found those rare birds at the stage when training the dog.

Maybe a dog could be trained with dead specimens or feathers or something 🤷‍♂️

 

[Jacob McLaren]

Lesser rares apart, (Woodlark, Woodcock and Short eared Owl etc), my old boy (Boxer) between ‘92- 98 flushed OBP, Yellow breasted Bunting and Richard’s Pipit on Epping Forest spaces, first and last were well attended, the second didn’t hang around.
Fair to say he was sorely missed and was never trained, just loved to run, often with nose close to ground.

What a good boy. All mine can do is push her way into the bushes while I'm pishing so that the birds move further away. Makes birding in the yard a little more difficult.

 

[jurek]

My memory with dogs is of local dogs which hang around birdwatchers and go merry hunting and scaring wildlife. Not recommended.

I know dogs are sometimes trained to smell individual wildlife species or their scats. I know dogs were used to sniff Woodcocks and snipes for hunters, and read that one especially good hunting dog could recognize Common and Great Snipe by scent. But I doubt even the best dog can smell the difference between countless small songbirds.

Can a dog understand that it should target any unusually smelling bird and ignore common ones? This would be closest to finding rarities.

Alternatively, a dog could probably quite easily be trained to herd a skulking bird towards the observer. Or make rounds around e.g. hedges or ditches, flushing hidden birds. I believe hunting dogs do similar things with game animals.

 

[dantheman]

I was wondering whether individual species have that distinctive a smell that isn't masked by eg individual variation of individuals, food or area that a bird has come from ...

 

[pppppvvvv]

My dog is pretty useless with anything like that, he's originally bred to chase vermin and make lots of noise basically.. BUT...
He has always growled when he hears Lesser Spotted Woodpecker drumming
(Yet never reacts to Great Spotted!)