For most animals, scent is the instant messenger of choice
for quickly exchanging personal profiles. Scientists, however, have long
dismissed birds as odor-eschewing Luddites that don’t take advantage of
scent-based communications.
In a first-of-its-kind study, however, a Michigan State
University researcher has demonstrated that birds do indeed communicate via scents,
and that odor reliably predicts their reproductive success. The study appears
in the current issue of Animal Behaviour and focuses on volatile compounds in
avian preen secretions.