Hi Vicki,

Only a few birds have well developed senses of smell. Turkey Vultures and
seabirds (tubenoses to be precise such as albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters,
and fulmars) have excellent and well developed senses of smell. Other birds
that come to mind are the Kiwi and I believe the Woodcock. In most other
birds, the area of the brain responsible for smell has been greatly
diminished to make room for the highly developed sense of vision. Since
most birds find their food using vision (fruit, seeds, mammalian prey, avian
prey, insects, etc, etc) the sense of smell has been severely reduced. This
is one reason Great-horned Owls regularly prey on skunks...the smell doesn't
bother them in the least. Thus, woodpeckers probably cannot tell if one
suet cake smells better than any other based on the peanut composition.
However, one may taste better than the other.

Jeff Kozma
Yakima
j kozma at charter dot net

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