Carrion eaters in the sky..What's your take?

[Kami]

Recently I was thinking about our feathered friends that love to pick at your downed ungulate in short order.
Do birds smell their food options when out cruising? I believe that for larger carrion, yes birds can spot them
from quite an elevation and swoop down to dine. What about smaller meals? Lets assume maybe a bunch of
frogs or mice lay rotting in an area. Do crows, hawks, eagles, and whiskey jacks smell this while out cruising and move in?
I do believe that several ground dwellers in the wild have a great sense of smell and would pick up on the odor pretty
quickly and zone in. I suspect coyotes and cats specifically. What about birds? How good is their nose at sniffing
out that meal from way up in the breeze?

Inquiring minds want to know! :-D What's your experience been?

[alexboyprin]

Hi! I do not know if they smell a lot but, from my experience, I do know that, the raven, for example, observe a lot and listen a lot. For example, if they hear a rifle shot, they will come investigate because they associate rifle shot with a dead animal/food. This actually happened to me. Then, when flying over human activities, they will observe. If they see a person, throwing garbage, or a pick up with garbage bags in it, they will come for sure and they will puncture the bags in search of food. Ravens are one of the most cleaver bird. I hope this answer part of your question.

[Darksith]

birds don't have a very keen sense of smell, so I would bet they aren't smelling much from the air

[RiverOtter]

I believe vultures use scent, though I think most other birds rely on sense of sight or sounds from birds who've already found something.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

I believe vultures use scent, though I think most other birds rely on sense of sight or sounds from birds who've already found something.

Right you are.......

http://www.livescience.com/32202-how-do-vultures-find-dead-stuff.html

"So how do vultures find fresh road kill? It's not with eagle eyes. Surprisingly, though most birds lack any sense of smell (http://www.livescience.com/33620-baby-bird-touch-mother-abandon.html) , vultures can sniff out a dead critter from more than a mile away."They smell the unique sulphurous chemical compounds of decaying meat from high in the sky, then will circle around downwards until they find the aroma's origin," Woterbeek said.
Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @ll (http://twitter.com/#!/llmysteries)"

[Vladimir Poutine]

Turkey vultures like the rest have a very good sense of smell. That's how they find a carcass that someone has dumped under a canopy of trees. If threatened they will defend themselves by puking strong stomach acids. Sort of like a few that I had to deal with on E Hastings.

[Jimbo]

Crows in my neighbourhood know which garbage bag has the best goodies, and which ones to ignore. They definitely have as sense of smell.

[GoatGuy]

Most predators that have the ability, burry their kills.

[Frango]

A couple of years ago I shot a Grey squirrel behind our house. I threw it into the bush about 75 feet from our patio into a pretty heavy treed area.Two days later 2 Turkey Buzzards where sitting in a tree about 20 feet from our patio..They have an incredible sense of smell .It was neat seeing them that close. They seemed like they were used to being that close to people. I went into the bush found the squirrel and threw it out into the open.They took it.

[Walksalot]

I was thinning out a ground hog infestation for a friend and with in a couple of hours the vultures were showing up.

[Good2bCanadian]

Saw a Hawk at Lundbom lake on the weekend feeding on a Mallard in a field a half
klick away from the lake.

I walked up to it and the hawk flew off. The breast was completely gone from the Mallard. Only head, neck and wings left.

I wonder if it picked it out of the sky? That would have been cool to see.

[Vladimir Poutine]

Most predators that have the ability, burry their kills.

That doesn't stop the odor.

[GoatGuy]

That doesn't stop the odor.

I guess the question of the day is: Why do predators burry kills?