Do birds have a sense of taste?
A comment from Linda Sue made me query whether birds have a sense of taste. The early bird catches the worm, but does it enjoy its meal?
Birds certainly have taste buds, though far fewer than mammals. There is not a huge body of work on avian taste buds, but most species studied so far have been discovered to have up to 300, while human beings have between 2,000 and 9,000, depending on age, genetics, health and lifestyle. However, birds are significantly smaller than many mammals, so the ratio of taste buds to individual is higher, suggesting that their sense of taste may be quite sophisticated.
Like mammals, birds can taste sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (delicious, complex) but the taste buds are located differently in distinct species. Ducks’ taste buds are inside their bills while in parrots, they are on their tongues and the back of their throats. Ducks and parrots have been shown to have the largest number of taste buds, around three to four hundred, while chickens have a paltry twenty-four.
Birds learn to avoid unpleasant foods, and to appreciate others. Most songbirds can discern sweetness. Hummingbirds can detect different concentrations of sugar in nectar, and fruit-eating birds can distinguish between ripe and unripe fruit.
One bird that does not have taste buds is the ostrich.
So, maybe the Corvid Cleaners do not like the taste of cigarette butts, but willingly pick them up and dispose of them for the food treats they receive.
I had never thought about birds having taste buds. I'm glad they do.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a poor life with no sense of taste.
DeleteI once read that if you wanted to keep squirrels out of your bird seed to treat it with a generous amount of cayenne pepper. According to them, the spice will send the squirrels running. Birds don't have tastebuds, so the cayenne doesn't affect them. According to the writer.
ReplyDeleteI read something similar but it added that the pepper can affect the eyes of the birds, so perhaps not such a good idea.
DeleteI do not mind feeding squirrels as well, so it's not a big deal to me.
DeleteRight! I assumed suburban birds were so desperate for food that they would eat everything and anything. But over the last five years I have learned that birds really do avoid unpleasant foods. Perhaps it was covid that drove them away from ordinary bread.
ReplyDeleteSome birds are less discerning than others, I think.
DeleteInteresting. Now one wonders why evolution resulted in the taste buds of different species being in different locations? An outcome of what type of food they consume maybe?
ReplyDeleteCheers, Gail.
I am sure there are many factors involved, but why does the poor ostrich have none?
DeleteSeagulls seem to eat everything...I wonder how good their taste buds are.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they're very particular!
DeleteOur local blackbirds do love our ripe fruits.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, you don't mind if there's plenty to go round.
DeleteThis is so interesting. So birds do taste less than what we human do?
ReplyDeleteThey don't appear to react to spicy food and will consume capsaicin quite readily.
DeleteI never doubted that birds taste things, because they don't eat everything.
ReplyDeleteSome eat fruits and nuts and seeds, others eat insects and worms. I'd rather be a fruit and nut eater!
DeleteA nice segue from your last post. And learning about avian taste buds, quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteThere's such a disparity between different species, too.
DeleteThat's interesting. Now it makes sense about tossing in red pepper flakes with birdseed. The hot spice (supposedly) keeps squirrels from devouring the seed. The birds would be able to eat the seed and avoid the red pepper flakes
ReplyDeleteBirds don't discern the capsaicin in peppers, but the powder is not good for their eyes. I suppose the same would be true of flakes.
DeleteWe love feeding the birds and have a number of bird feeders. We have noticed that they have preferences of the bird seed that we buy.
ReplyDeleteThey always seem to prefer the most expensive sort.
DeleteI hadn't ever thought about this, but it's most interesting.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Well, I hadn't either, until I wrote about the Corvid cleaners.
DeleteI wasn't sure if birds could taste even though I know birds have preferences of food. This was fun to learn they can tell their favorite foods and enjoy taste. As I finally do now 5 weeks later, lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your sense of taste has returned.
DeleteHow interesting, and how unfortunate for the chickens and ostriches! I wonder what the chickens' dinosaur ancestors had for taste buds?
ReplyDeleteNot a lot, I should think!
DeleteIt's a relief to know that birds have taste buds, although somehow I never doubted it! xxx
ReplyDeleteSome of them do eat the most disgusting things, though.
DeleteBirds round here always know if we have changed the tye of fat pellets we serve - I always assumed that was based on taste.
ReplyDeleteDiscerning birds.
DeleteWe have bird feeders and I'm convinced birds can taste. Not only that but it was believed, until recently, that most birds did not have a sense of smell. We are now learning that isn't necessarily true, either.
ReplyDeleteAs taste and smell are closely linked in mammals, it would make sense for the same to be true of birds.
DeleteNo había pensado en eso. Te mando un beso.
ReplyDeleteNeither had I, until recently.
ReplyDelete