Sense of smell in birds.

[GATMAN]

Often wondered how good (if any) the sense of smell is in woodies and corvids. We all know these birds have excellent eyesight, but I wonder if they also use their sense of smell to alert themselves to possible danger (me with an S 410 or Rapid )

What are your opinions, guys ?

Paul.

[Chandlers]

i've heard corvids can detect the scent of carrion but i think sweaty hunters might be beyond their olfactory limits

[Murphy]

Why??
Do you stink??

I would imagine like most animals they have fantastic smell.

[Ricard Sweden]

Corvids can detect scents, btu I hardly believe that doves can.. Some vultures are also known for their excellent nose...

[Parabuteo]

Corvids can detect scents, btu I hardly believe that doves can.. Some vultures are also known for their excellent nose...

Ever seen araptors nest...lousy sense of smell, and its a good thing

Crows are reputed to have a reasonable sense of smell, but as above, the Turkey vulture for instance, can smell rotting carrion over 40km+....but thats rotting, right

Turkey vultures also bite extremely well for a small vulture...ask me how I know

There, more usless info from the home of the very same

[SNAKEBITE]

Interesting question.
I supose because of the excellent eyesight in Pigeons and what they eat, evolution has dictated that sense of smell takes a back seat.

[chadders]

Right, this may be massive overkill, but its an area that I have been studying, so I'll just cut and paste in a couple of introductary paragraphs - sorry they're written so formally, but thats what I have to do

In summary - birds do have well developed sense of smell, although this probably varies between species depending on the size of the olfactory bulb - the brain region involved in sense of smell. In general this gets relatively smaller as birds become more "advanced" i.e move up the evolutionary tree from seabirds, raptors and pigeons through to crows, sparrows and starlings. Instead, these "advanced" species appear to devote more brain space to visual and sound signals.

Shooting wise - I reckon scent is the least of your worries to camoflague

Hope thats of some help

Cheers

Jo


Ecological correlates of olfactory bulbs in birds
The sense of smell, or general olfactory ability in birds, has been the subject of much less research than similar investigations into visual and aural signals and perception (Roper 1999, Malakoff 1999). However, several recent studies, both experimental and observational, have demonstrated good evidence of olfactory ability across a range of taxa (e.g. Petit et al. 2002, Roper 2003, Hagelin 2004, Hagelin et al. 2003, Minguez 1997). The size of the olfactory bulb (OB), a brain region related to olfactory processes, is known for over 100 species of birds (Bang & Cobb 1968) and varies dramatically in size from the abnormally large OB of the kiwi at 12mm, to the 0.8mm OB of the black-capped chickadee. When the OB was compared to the diameter of the brain’s hemisphere, thus correcting for brain size, a similar wide range is seen, from 37% in snow petrels to 4% in the house sparrow. What drives such variation in OB size? Early comparative studies suggested relationships with aquatic habitats (Cobb 1960) and ground nesting, carnivoroy/piscivory, water association and coloniality (Bang 1971), but de Speroni & Perlot (1987) suggested that olfaction should be more active in terrestrial rather than aquatic birds. However, none of these studies accounted for body size of birds – which may explain allometric scaling of brain regions (Bennett & Harvey 1985), nor did they account for taxonomic relatedness between species, which is likely to co-vary with ecology and so make testing of association difficult (Harvey & Pagel 1991). Healy & Guilford (1990) did account for these confounding factors and found that whilst body weight explained 48% of the variation in OB size, activity timing (being nocturnal or crepuscular) explained a further 15% of the variation. They demonstrated that diet, nest type, nest dispersion, development, and migratory behaviour provided no significant explanation of OB variation. Two important ecological factors that have not been investigated include mating system and sociality. Zelano & Edwards (2002) have reviewed the role of MHC in kin recognition and mate choice in birds, and concluded that olfaction may be a crucial, but as yet unexplored means of communication, as is seen in mammals and fish. This would predict that olfaction is more important in species where kin recognition and MHC based mate choice feature. We will use comparative methods to investigate whether mating systems and sociality are good predictors of variation in olfactory bulb size.

It is now known that birds can sense odours (Stattelman et al, 1975), and olfaction has been implicated as important in foraging (Wenzel 1968, Harriman & Berger 1986, Nevitt 2000); nest recognition (Minguez, 1997); to locate colony sites and burrows in darkness (Bonadonna et al. 2001, Bonadonna & Bretagnolle 2002); in attachment and affiliation (Jones & Roper 1997, Jones & Gentle 1984); to select prime nesting material (Clark & Mason 1987, Petit 2002); to navigate across vast stretches of unknown terrain (Rehkamper 1988, Papi 1991, Wallraff et al. 1995, Benvenuti & Ranvaud 2004); courtship (Hagelin et al., 2003); and probably as a cue for species and individual recognition (Jacob & Ziswiler 1982, Bonadonna & Nevitt 2004); to avoid eating unsavoury and potentially toxic aposematic insects (Jetz et al., 2001); in territorial behaviour (Jouventin, 1977); and in kin recognition and mate choice (via Mhc genes) (Zelano & Edwards, 2002). Olfactory abilities are also known to vary seasonally for some species, such as the European Starling (Clark & Smeraski, 1990), in which this variation appears to be linked to changes in photoperiodically controlled endocrine production and breeding behaviour.

[snock]

I've known some really smelly birds!!

[sniperman2005]

I've known some really smelly birds!!

Yeah, dirty cows some of them lol. Smell like dead crows

[Si-monster]

as far as i know mate, it's the birdies eye-sight you really have to worry about as they see in colour (apparently) and are very aware of even the smallest movements. plus they have a larger field of view than us i think

(there are lots "i thinks" and "apparently"s in this answer so if someone could confirm them as accurate or not i'd certainly appreciate it ) Si