Here is a Crested Auklet from Saint Paul Island, AK. Saint Paul Island is part of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.
The tangerine-scented crested auklet is the first bird found to send fragrant signals.
Whenever I have been to seabird colonies over the years, I often smell seabirds before seeing them. Most often, the smell at a seabird colony is quite foul, especially on a hot sunny afternoon after some rain. When I smell what can only be described as someone peeling a tangerine next to me, I know there are Crested Auklets nearby - smile.
Crested auklets sniff necks when they meet. The birds seem to use perfume to make themselves attractive. When birds meet, they press their bills against each other's necks - feathers here have the strongest smell. It's not known what the perfume signifies. It could convey the bird's quality as a mate - well-fed birds might be able to produce more scent.
The perfume is a blend of oils, but how it's made is also a mystery. Oil from the auklets' preening gland is odorless, but bacteria on the feathers might break it down into something smellier. The birds only smell during the breeding season, with males and females becoming equally pungent.
Many birds, including vultures and pigeons, rely on scent to find food and navigate, but the use of chemicals to signal to others was unknown. The auklets open up a new field, says physiologist Bernice Wenzel of the University of California, Los Angeles.
"It's too soon to say whether [these signals] will turn out to be common," says Wenzel. "The important thing is that more research of this sort should be conducted."
Join me for my Saint Paul Island, AK workshop this July to learn more CLICK HERE.
