Birds aren’t smelly are they? You would be surprised, says David Lindo <\/p>
We don\u2019t think of birds as smelly, not in the same way that dogs have a characteristic smell, for example, says David Lindo. <\/strong><\/p> But ask any bird ringer and they will tell you that their mist nests and bird bags have a particular \u2018birdy\u2019 smell that could be loosely describe as like bitter, stale perfume. <\/p> This smell may emanate from feather dust and the oily secretions from the birds’ preen glands, which they use to protect and waterproof their plumage.<\/p> Odours are particularly strong in seabirds<\/a>. Storm petrels famously have a mustiness detectable at close quarters, and Manx shearwaters are also pretty niffy.<\/p> Further afield, the anis, relatives of the cuckoos<\/a>, particularly pong. As adults they have few enemies \u2013 presumably their whiff must be off-putting.<\/p> Finally, the skin of certain pitohui species, which hail from Papua New Guinea, contain powerful neurotoxic alkaloids that are believed to serve as a chemical defence against ectoparasites or predators like snakes and even humans.<\/p> Indeed, Papua New Guineans call them \u2018rubbish birds\u2019 due to their toxicity rendering them inedible.<\/p> And don’t forget the Hoopoe bird – famously known as stink bird<\/a><\/p> Discover more fascinating bird facts<\/strong><\/p> Birds aren’t smelly are they? You would be surprised, says David Lindo <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40075,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/are-birds-smelly.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/are-birds-smelly-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/are-birds-smelly-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/are-birds-smelly-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/are-birds-smelly-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/are-birds-smelly-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/09\/are-birds-smelly-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Birds aren't smelly are they? You would be surprised, says David Lindo","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40074"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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