A verb for the quick head-turning of a bird

I'm sure the reader has seen a bird move its head about, no? When a bird is curious or wary, it moves its head about quickly, almost jerkily.

I have thought of using these words: bob, wrench, flick, tilt, wag, shift, waggle, pump, snap, flip, and dip. I like a few of them, but I was hoping some of you fine people could provide a word with better specificity.

In a sentence:

The crow flicked its head about, wary of my presence, gawking at me with beady eyes.

Flicked is actually a great option in your original question. Here are some more:

Jerked

a quick, sharp, sudden movement.

Twitched

give or cause to give a short, sudden jerking or convulsive movement.

I like flicked. You could also choose to use an adverb like abruptly to emphasize further:

The crow abruptly flicked its head, wary of my presence, saccading his beady eyes in my direction.

Saccades are the quick eye movements that many animals, in particular birds, make. Humans do it too. For example when reading we make quick saccades to go from word to word and line to line.

Here is an article about the quick neck turning and saccading of bird's eyes:

Link to: Why do birds turn their neck so fast and saccade?

A good word for this might be:

Swivel

It might suggest a more purposeful movement than jerk and twitch.