can black birds hear

[faz]

watching a BB in my garden after cutting the lawn it would cock its head to one side for a couple of seconds then pounce and pull out a worm i have always belived that they can hear worms grubs etc is it me being mislead all these years your opinions please

[Kayleigh]

I think they are looking at the worms, their eyes are on the side..this is my theory anyway..

[John B (NTS)]

Yes they can hear, but cocking their heads on one side is their equivalent of us dipping our head to inspect our shoes. It's just pointing the eye at the area under scrutiny. Blackbird eyes are arranged for better than 180 degree coverage (all the better to detect predators) but this isn't great for staring at the ground.