Are You a Bird Sniffer?

Have you ever heard of people sniffing their parrots? Have you ever taken a big whiff of your feathered friend?

Bumblebee the Senegal, adopted out in 2024.

Many people with companion birds patient enough to allow their human family to take a big sniff will claim that each bird's scent is different, or at least that it varies by species. Social media is full of threads of people sharing what they think their parrots smell like: tangerines, baby powder, pine trees, honey, musk, popcorn. I once fostered a Senegal Parrot through the Exotic Bird Rescue of Oregon that I thought smelled like barbecue, and bringing him into the shower made him smell smokier--no matter how many baths he took!

But why do parrots have (often delightful-smelling) body odor to begin with? Research within the last decade suggests that these scents are akin to pheromones, and that birds use them to help sniff their way to finding a mate and caring for offspring (see Caro et al. 2015 for example). This debunks the common myth that birds cannot smell or have a poor sense of smell, although what you think your bird smells like--maple syrup? cereal? sunshine?--is probably different from how another bird thinks your parrot smells.

It's worth noting that a parrot shouldn't necessarily smell "bad." Good hygiene will keep your bird smelling freshest: giving your bird a bath at least weekly, keeping your bird away from cooking and smoking, keeping a clean cage. As hinted above, hormonal birds may emit a stronger odor, and regurgitation can sometimes cause a bird's breath to smell a little sour. Apart from these, any strong and ongoing bad breath smell, or a bad smell coming from your bird's poop, should raise a red flag and be discussed with an avian vet.

There can be some risk to enjoying eau de bird. Even the most patient of birds may becoming fed up with being huffed, leading to a nip on the nose. There is also a low chance of developing bird fancier's lung over time--where your body's immune system kicks into overdrive, like an allergic reaction combined with asthma--although this is more often the result of too much bird "stuff" in their air (dust, dander, small feathers, fecal matter), for a prolonged period of time. Keeping your home clean and well ventilated, using air purifiers, and wearing PPE while cleaning bird areas are the best ways to help decrease the risk of developing this illness.

For those of you with parrots patient enough to let you huff their scent--keep on sniffing (safely)!