Not just a pretty face

This male robin with the larvae-filled beak sat on a branch and stared at me for minutes on end before hopping off to feed its mate, or its young.

I wondered at the size of its eye relative to its head. Sure enough, some research has been done which suggests that large eyed birds have an evolutionary advantage: they are the first to start singing in the morning because they can see better in low light. As  a result they not only kick-start the dawn chorus but they also catch the early worms caterpillars.