can birds taste their food

I ran out of suet recently. It might have been my imagination, but the woodpeckers seemed to be eyeing the wood siding, so off I went to the store. Suet comes in a lot of flavorsmixed berry, orange, cranberry, peanut, sunflower, raisin, spicyand my particular mix of backyard birds definitely has its preferences. The peanut goes fast, as does something called woodpecker mix. The berry flavors get eaten only when the others have run out, and the raisin and orange could hang there all season with nary a nibble.

As I stocked up, I couldnt help thinking about favorite flavors. First, I thought about my teenage son: How can he love mint chocolate-chip ice cream but claim that mint toothpaste makes him gag? This conundrum proving unsolvable, I turned my attention back to the birds: Was their preference a matter of the type of seeds or of taste? And is that spicy suet, advertised as bird-friendly but squirrel-repellent, really safe for them?

A human adult has somewhere between 2,000-9,000 taste buds. Birds average around 300, mostly on the roof and back of the mouth rather than on the tongue. Most birds dont chew their food or hold food in their mouths much at all, so the pleasure that we humans take in savoring a delicious meal would be rather lost on them.

Still, birds arent totally without a sense of taste, and it can vary from species to species. According to Bird Note, researchers discovered that ducks have taste buds inside their bills and that they are able to differentiate between good and spoiled peas. The entry for taste in Birdpedia notes that birds feeding at winter roosts of Monarch butterflies learn to detect toxic [substances] by making quick taste tests of the insects wings. And there is some evidence that hummingbirds can taste the amount of sugar in feeder nectar.

The lack of taste buds is one reason spicy bird food is advertised as bird safe and some bird enthusiasts advocate using it to keep away squirrels. According to The Audubon Society, the nerve receptor in mammals that is triggered by capsaicin [the substance that makes peppers hot] is apparently not activated in birds; and, therefore, the mucous membranes in the gastro-intestinal system of birds ingesting capsaicin are not irritated.

What they dont know is how it might affect birds eyes should they come into contact with the treated seed. Audubon adds that capsaicin can kill bees and other pollinators and could harm pets and other mammals. Cornell Lab of Ornithology does not recommend using it.

Oddly, Ive emerged from writing this column a little less irritated by squirrels. Maybe its that Ive finally found the right combination of baffles and tree pruning that has kept them out of my feeders. Mostly, though, I did some reading about the role of squirrels in forest ecosystems. It turns out that, in addition to being an important part of the food chain for owls and hawks, their habit of burying seeds and then forgetting where they are can help expand forests and keep native plant species alive. Maybe pepper seed is a little more punishment than they deserve.

The police here in Vermillion spotted a mountain lion in town last week, and its been captured on some backyard wildlife cameras as well. I wonder if he would eat the raisin and orange suet I cant seem to get rid of.

Nevertheless, birds do have a sense of taste, though it varies depending on the species. According to “Bird Note,” scientists found that ducks can distinguish between fresh and spoiled peas because they have taste buds inside their bills. According to Birdpedia’s entry on “taste,” birds that feed at Monarch butterfly winter roosts “learn to detect… toxic [substances] by making quick ‘taste tests’ of the insects’ wings.” Additionally, there is evidence that hummingbirds can detect the sugar content of feeder nectar.

A mountain lion was seen by the Vermillion police last week, and it was also seen on some wildlife cameras in peoples’ backyards. If he ate the raisins and orange suet I can’t seem to get rid of, I wonder.

A human adult has somewhere between 2,000-9,000 taste buds. Usually on the roof and back of the mouth rather than the tongue, birds average about 300. The pleasure that humans deride in savoring a delicious meal would be rather lost on most birds, as they rarely chew their food or hold it in their mouths.

I couldn’t help but think of my favorite flavors as I filled up. First, my thoughts turned to my teenage son: How can he love mint chocolate-chip ice cream but say that mint toothpaste makes him gag? This puzzle not being able to be solved, I returned my focus to the birds, asking myself if their preference was due to the taste or type of seeds, and if that spicy suet, which is marketed as being safe for birds but repellent to squirrels, was actually safe for them?

I ran out of suet recently. I headed to the store after noticing what appeared to be woodpeckers eyeing the wood siding, though it could have just been my imagination. Suet is available in a variety of flavors, including mixed berry, orange, cranberry, peanut, sunflower, raisin, and spicy. My specific variety of backyard birds has specific preferences. The peanut goes fast, as does something called woodpecker mix. The orange and raisin flavors could remain unfinished throughout the season, while the berry flavors are only consumed when the others are gone.

This audio story is brought to you by BirdNote, a partner of The National Audubon Society. BirdNote episodes air daily on public radio stations nationwide.

Sounds of birds provided by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York’s Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds Mallard calls [133222] recorded by Michael J Andersen. Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler composed and performed the theme music for BirdNote.

Although it has long been known that birds will spit out caterpillars they find repulsive, not much study has been done on the sense of taste in birds. Additionally, experts found it difficult to give birds much credit for tasting their food because of their hard, skinny tongues and tough, bony beaks. Thus, taste budsmore than 400 of themwere not discovered on the inside of a duck’s bill until the 1970s by a scientist.

Even though birds have a much smaller tastebud count than humans, this does not always imply that they have a poor sense of taste. According to a certain Hollywood duck… *Audio clip of Daffy Duck
Oh, that’s ridiculous! Of all the stupid suggestions!

Furthermore, a duck experiment revealed that when the birds used the tips of their bills to pluck peas, they were able to distinguish between peas that tasted good, which they eagerly ate, and peas that didn’t, which they rejected.

FAQ

What bird doesn’t taste it with its mouth?

An ostrich’s eye is larger than its brain, and therefore its vision is well developed. Her guess is that ostriches have no need for taste buds because of the way in which they eat. They throw it to the back of their mouths, which doesn’t really give them an opportunity to do any tasting, she speculates.

Do birds tell each other where food is?

They will fly around or survey the area from the tops of trees constantly searching for anything that could be a potential new source of food. Once a bird has found a source of food, it may call to its mate or if there is plenty to go round to other members of its flock.

Can wild birds taste?

Most birds don’t chew their food or hold food in their mouths much at all, so the pleasure that we humans take in savoring a delicious meal would be rather lost on them. Still, birds aren’t totally without a sense of taste, and it can vary from species to species.

Do birds know what they can eat?

Birds can learn which foods to eat and which to avoid by watching other birds do the same on TV, according to a new study out of the University of Cambridge.