My advisor asked me that very question in the car the other day. Sometimes I wish I didn't have an advisor who did a bachelors in mechanical engineering and philosophy... maybe he wouldn't ask such hard to answer questions then... Actually, it's quite interesting to think about.
American robins eat predominately earthworms (referred to in the literature as invertebrates) in the spring and early summer, and then start to eat more fruit towards the end of the summer. They aren't picky eaters, dining on a wide variety of foods, so does that mean that they choose earthworms because they taste good to them? It's a widely known fact that birds do not smell well, but they do have limited taste.
Why do robins choose the foods they choose? I'm sure you could design some experiments to find out (such as flavoring earthworms differently and seeing if that affects choice-- I suspect that they are most attracted to earthworms' movement and squishy texture but that's just my hunch). It's possible they have evolved so earthworms taste good to them. They certainly don't look too tasty to us, which is what begs the question.
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