Distance makes the bird fly farther, or Discrimination of auditory distance cues by songbirds.
How Birds Learn to Recognize Conspecific Song. Near and far sounding conspecific vocalizations are played from the centre of a bird's territory, and behaviour in response to playback is recorded. My master's thesis first looked at whether the auditory distance perception could be studied in the laboratory, as previous studies had been conducted in the field. I am now looking at the relative importance of various distance cues, and will also be testing isolate-raised birds to determine the role of experience in distance perception. I am also interested in the neural basis of song perception, and have collaborated with Chris Sturdy and Greg Ball to learn ICC techniques to examine immediate early gene response to song.