One of my favorite smells is Creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) after a summer monsoon rain in the Chihuahuan Desert. Even if you haven’t noticed the plant being present, the odor is so prominent you know immediately you’re in that habitat.
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We’ve covered plants that you crush and smell the leaves. What about tasting leaves? The only one I know is Sweetleaf aka horse sugar (Symplocos tinctoria).
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Young Rumex acetosa/thyrsiflorus identification includes tasting leaves to feel if they’re sour or bitter.
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And the eggslime of other amphibians doesn’t?
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Then garlic buchu. Driving from Cape Town to Riversdale, there was a Nearly There point when I could smell the garlic buchu. Have a plant growing in my garden now.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/579221-Agathosma-apiculata
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If I cannot tell if it is a Red-eyed Vireo or a Scarlet Tanager, it is a Yellow-throated Vireo. If I cannot tell what kind of vireo it is, it is a Blue-headed Vireo. If I realize after several minutes, I have ignored it’s existence, it is a Red-eyed Vireo.
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Acanthurus nigrofuscus and Ctenochaetus striatus are dark brown and tend to hang out together. When you try to swim close up to see the spots on C.striatus face, they move away. To distinguish the two, I have learned to recognize them by the spacing between the last dorsal and anal fin rays, even when they are far away in terrible lighting.
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I don’t have Scarlet Tanagers or Blue-headed Vireos here during the breeding season. But I’ll take your tip in mind for YTVI versus REVI. YTVI never shuts up? Or is louder than REVI? I heard once that REVI only sing in the afternoon. Is there any truth to that?
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Never heard about the J. effusus/conglomeratus difference - I was always told to roll them in my fingers (or lips at one point !) since J. conglomeratus has a lightly ribbed stalk while J. effusus is smooth.
Most of the things mentioned for fungi in this thread don’t seem weird to me because I look at fungi quite a lot so I’ve gotten used to them. Sometimes I do get surprised by the sheer variety and particularity of mushroom smells though, a key I tried last year had me choose between the smells of “iodoform”, “pelargonium leaves”, “cedarwood”, “radishy” and “indistinct” - and for one species pair in particular the key stated: “Smell with age strong and disagreeable, earthy, musty, geosmin, DDT, raw beetroot (some people cannot recognise this smell and in that case more like banana peels)”.
Where it gets weirder is that I recently heard a podcast episode with a guy who studies wild bees who also used smell as a field character - apparently they can smell of everything from lemons to hot asphalt, not that I have tried since I mostly prefer my study subjects to sit still.
Another fun one is that with some lichens we drop bleach on them (and yes that is a part of the field kit) and then expect them to become more rather than less colourful, as some lichens contain substances that will turn yellow or red with bleach which can be useful for ID.
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which pelargonium? Each of our species smells different.
Bees that smell of hot asphalt are building their propolis wall?
That’s because for fungi tasting/sniffing them is normal.)
OK, how about using the flame from a butane lighter? Used as a check on the maple syrup smell of the candy cap, Lactarius rubidus (North America). Hold the flame to the edge of the cap. This mimics drying which intensifies the smell.
Another is to hold the flame to the edge of Fomitopsis mounceae (North America, F. pinicola complex). if it “boils” then F. mounceae else F. ochracea.
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I recently learned that Chromis viridis and Chromis atripectoralis (two very common but very similar damselfish) can be distinguished by their behaviour - viridis is shy, reclusive, and will rarely venture more than a few inches from it’s host coral, whereas atripectoralis is much bolder, outgoing, and is more often seen swimming high over the reef. This is especially useful if you only see the fish from a distance, or are identifying from a photo (if the fish is in a position where the pectoral fin axil is hidden).
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It seems odd to people who aren’t familiar with fungi
If the butterfly isn’t in the field guide, it’s a Geometrid moth.
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Yellow-throated Vireo’s song is slower and raspier than Red-eyed Vireo and probably a bit louder. Scarlet Tanagers are also raspier than Summer Tanagers but I usually can’t tell them apart! Beats me how that works. Learning birdsong for me involves a lot of brain tricks that are usually hard to describe. I’ve had Warbling Vireo pegged ever since someone taught me they sing “If it please you, I will seize you, and squeeze you, till you squirt!” Even though there is variation in their phrasing, “squirt!” gets it done for me. REVIs have been the the most common/vocal breeding bird in the places I have done my most birding. I assume that’s why I often filter them out for a while. They seem quite fond of singing all day. I’ve read they communicate danger to their partner by shutting up more than by making a warning sound so I assume that’s why. I can tell you that one day I wondered around the woods starting at 4:30 a.m. writing the time that I heard each bird for the first time. The REVIs were by far the latest of the common birds not getting started until well after 6:30. That’s still definitely morning, but there is a small kernel of truth to your statement. They do seem to be largely absent from the main dawn chorus at any rate.
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YTVI singing is so common in my yard that I often ignore them. We even have a nest in a tree next to our back porch (have not posted photos yet). I know there have been REVI here (I have a photo of one) but it might have just been passing through. WEVI singing is even more common (rival males) but I can’t ignore them because their song makes me smile. Sometimes “Pick up the beeeeer check!” but other things too usually ending in the emphatic “check!”. I found a nest in a bush at the edge of the property.
I have both Swainson’s and Hooded Warbler in the woods near my home. I’m starting to get a hang of telling them apart. I have heard the phrase “William, William, I HATE you” for Hooded. I focus on the last part, the “I HATE you” with the emphasis on “HATE”. The last part of Swainson’s is “SIS-ter-ville” with “SIS” being emphatic and “ville” being drawn out.
To me a Yellow-throated Warbler sounds like someone rolling down a hill then hitting the bottom. That may be a local variation though. Our local Carolina chickadees sing “fee bee bay” instead of the traditional “fee bee fee bay”. When I hear it it sounds to me like they are singing “three blind mice”.
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Is identifying birds by song “odd,” though? There are whole field guides to “birding by ear.”
Nah, I’d say it’s pretty normal. That’s why you can submit audio to iNat.