Their hunting instinct will engage even when provided consistent food, and whether there's prey or not.
It's also a form of play.
Some of my neighbor's cats did it all the time. To the extent of demanding outdoor roaming till 2 AM.

They are CAT, and reserve the right to change their tastes and minds. I keep a variety -- brands, flavors, and type (except minimal on pate, as they aren't too big on pate, until they are) -- and mix them up from meal to meal. Even then what they are clean platers on one time they may want nothing to do with the next time.

There usually is dry food out all day for the munchies, and they never seem to tire of that. And the wet food they reject at feeding time, they may return and eat at least a portion of later on. They aren't starving. They are just being CAT.

If you get into that spiral of buying different foods every time he won't eat, you will spend a LOT of money on cat food, and end up throwing a LOT of cat food away.

Cats are notoriously finicky, and it's easy to spoil them. I know I spoiled MY cat!

They are like us sometimes they don't feel like eating...and some other days they want to eat double..

They do sometimes get tired of some variety of food. They try to bury the food they aren't eating. At our house, we try to put out just enough food so they usually eat it all. We mix dry food and canned food together every time. We don't leave food sitting out all day; we feed them at certain times (twice a day). Anything they leave, we throw away or put away until the next feeding time. They always have water.

He is trying to cover it up.
My cats usually did this when they didn't like the food.

Mine does it too once in a while. I think it’s a cat thing

Well he still pawed around the bowl a few times but he ate it all up today

MEEOOOWWWW

Most likely caught a mouse and isn't hungry