# Okay, but can birds smell?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/okay-but-birds-7584311/okay-but-can-birds-smell
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/okay-but-birds-7584311/okay-but-can-birds-smell.md
Podcast: [Okay, But... Birds](https://stenobird.com/podcast/okay-but-birds-7584311)
Published: 2026-05-07T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://okaybutbirds.com
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/c6a4fa11-aeca-479a-a48a-5d847e7621c6.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/okay-but-birds-7584311/episodes/okay-but-can-birds-smell
Duration seconds: 2053

## Resource

E21. We're talking sense and scents with Dr. Danielle Whittaker, Oregon State, and author of The Secret Perfume of Birds , who spent a decade unraveling a 200-year-old myth that started with John James Audubon and a dead pig under a bush. In this episode: The bird that smells like a fresh-baked sugar cookie Why preen oil is a dating profile written in chemistry, and how seabirds use the same chemical cue that's now leading albatross parents to feed their chicks plastic The bonus myth Danielle wants gone New here? Listen, follow, and tell a friend who still thinks birds can't smell. All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows: Brown-headed Cowbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94262 Dark-eyed Junco audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94361 Red Knot audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML516895 Crested Auklet audio contributed by Sampath Seneviratne, ML132014 Laysan Albatross audio contributed by Ted Miller, ML117679

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## Transcript

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