[The Lone Ranger]

With a few noteworthy exceptions, birds appear to have virtually no sense of smell. This may help explain why crows readily feed on dead skunks and why Great Horned Owls prey upon live skunks -- neither is bothered by the scent.


One of the few bird species that does have a well-developed sense of smell is the Turkey Vulture. Natural gas companies actually use this to their advantage on occasion.

Natural gas is, to humans anyway, odorless. So sulfur compounds are often added to give it an odor and help us to detect gas leaks. Some of these same compounds are given off by rotting flesh and act as attractants to Turkey Vultures. (But not to Black Vultures; like most birds, Black Vultures have virtually no sense of smell and so search for carrion by sight.)

Gas companies sometimes actually use circling vultures to detect leaks from gas lines.