Ad campaign: The nose knows

Most birds have extremely poorly developed olfactory organs with the notable exception of New World vultures and a few isolated species such as the Cook's Petrel. In New Zealand there is currently a huge public debate in all the media as the number off bird species has deteriorated markedly in the last decade. A spokesman for Forest And Bird says that this is largely due to their decimation by introduced species such as cats, rats, stoats and weasels. A large number of birds are killed by these animals at night as the birds with their poorly developed sense of smell are sitting ducks (excuse the pun) for these animals which stakl them at night by using their well-developed sense of smell! The original mediator exclusion of birds is thus physiologically probably correct. My 2 cents worth. :)