grammar - Can I say "listen for it" and "smell for it"?

I often hear the term to look for it:

"I have studied symbolism in fine arts for years, and now I see symbolism in everything. I just can't stop myself after I learned how to look for it."

Feel for it is also frequently used:

"Jimmy was a great guitar player. He didn't even think while playing; his guitar functioned like an extension to his arms. He just had this natural feel for it."

It also works for listening, although it sounds a bit odd:

"This city is teeming with songbirds, but their chirps are drowned by the ambiance. You might be able to catch a few seconds here and there if you listen for it."

But how about for smelling?:

"My father knows a chef whose sense of smell is so good that he can step into the farmers market and locate the perfect onion by sticking his nose in the air to smell for it."

For listening it sounds bit odd, and for smelling it sounds downright wrong to me, but I can't explain why. Are all of the above sentences well-formed English sentences?

Answer

The words you will hear more often are along the lines of sniff it out.

The idiom sniff out is defined as (from The Free Dictionary):

To perceive or detect someone or something by or as if by sniffing:
The dogs sniffed out the trail through the snow.
The detectives sniffed the plot out and arrested the criminals.

A similar idiom is nose out, having essentially the same meaning in this context. (It can also mean to prevail over someone by a small margin.)