I have a question about how birds feed

[theHandpuppet]

I love watching the many birds that visit our backyard and I have a question about Robins and other birds who feed off the grubs and worms in the gound. Just how do they locate this food? Sometimes it seems as if they are sensing vibrations of movement beneath the ground, at other times I could swear they were listening for signs of a meal. The same question, I guess, would apply to woodpeckers and similar birds who dine on grubs in dead trees.

Thanks in advance for an answer.

[shraby]

1. I think they hear the bugs, grubs and worms.

Watch a robin sometime..it will tip its head, listen, run a few steps, tip its head and listen.

[gristy]

2. I've also heard that they hear them

[theHandpuppet]

3. Yes, I've observed that behavior

If it's true they're listening for food, it amazes me just how focused in they can be to such subtle sounds, even when they are surrounded by a lot of outside noise -- like my neighbor running the lawn mower while his kids are playing loudly just feet away.

[Speck Tater]

4. It's been many years ago that I studied ornithology, but...

As I recall, owls and other nocturnal birds of prey use hearing to locate and catch mice and other small prey animals. Most ground feeders use their eyes. They have to turn their head to see the ground, and it makes them look like they are listening, but they are just looking. I recall that some woodpeckers listen for grubs and termites under the bark before they peck holes to get them.

I won't guarantee this is 100% accurate, but I did double check several of my sources before posting and in the chapters on bird hearing there was no mention of daylight ground feeders using hearing to locate food.

[sharesunited]

5. Wikipedia says the robin hunts visually, not by hearing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin

[TZ]

6. Its probably a combination

But birds have GREAT vision. Sometimes when you see them turning their head it has to do with visual orientation.