Olfactory Guidance in Foraging by Procellariiforms

Olfactory foraging in Antarctic seabirds:a species-specific attraction to krill odors

“…We frequently observed storm-petrels pattering on the surface of both krillscented and unscented slicks. Zigzag flying, indicative of an olfactory search behavior (Hutchison & Wenzel 1980), was noted when birds approached krill-scented slicks. Storm-petrels tended to arrive at slicks 1 or 2 at a time and patter in small groups near the upwind edges of the slicks, typically several meters from other birds.…”

“…But if this decrease in response time was mediated by an olfactory attraction, then it was a relatively weak attraction compared to olfactory behaviors observed in other procellariiforms in response to other food-related odors (e.g. cod liver or tuna oil, fish homogenates; Grubb 1972, Hutchison & Wenzel 1980, Hutchison et al 1984, LeQuette et al 1989, Verheyden & Jouventin 1994, Nevitt et al 1995. Moreover, the lack of significant recruitment to krill-scented slicks does not reflect a lack of krill in storm-petrel diets since several reports indicate that Antarctic krill E. superba is one of their most important foods (e.g.…”

“…Tube-nosed seabirds are also readily attracted to fishy-smelling compounds deployed at sea (e.g. cod liver or tuna oil, fish homogenates, etc; Grubb 1972, Hutchison & Wenzel 1980, Hutchison et al 1984, LeQuette et al 1989, Verheyden & Jouventin 1994, Nevitt et al 1995. These observations suggest that a keen sense of smell may play an important role in locating patchily distributed food resources in the ocean.…”

Fish are not safe from great cormorants in turbid water

“…Payne 1971). Olfactory cues, which are used extensively by petrels and albatrosses to locate prey from afar at the surface of the oceans (Hutchison & Wenzel 1980), are unlikely to serve diving piscivores. However, we think that great cormorants might use tactile cues to catch prey in turbid/dark water.…”

Smelling Out Predators is Innate in Birds

“…Chemical cues appear to also be useful in the relationship between birds and their environment. For example, birds can use the sense of smell to discriminate aromatic plants (Petit et al 2002, Mennerat et al 2005, Gwinner & Berger 2008, to orientate and navigate , Wallraff 2004, Nevitt & Bonadonna 2005 and to forage (Hutchison & Wenzel 1980, Nevitt et al 1995, Marples & Roper 1996, Kelly & Marples 2004, Cunningham et al 2008. The role of olfaction for predation risk assessment remains barely explored in birds, although predator chemical cues could be useful in predator detection under low visibility conditions for many bird species.…”