We analyzed the calls and found significant differences! 🧐 Distance calls aimed at other birds (aDCs) were louder and had more harmonic structure than calls used to get food (gDCs).

But do these calls change depending on context? 🎧 Listen to this audio: Can you hear the difference between distance calls used for food vs. those used to communicate with other birds? 🤔

Here’s a bird who learned this very well! In this video, you can see a male zebra finch using its distance call to request food. Clearly, they learned the association!

We trained food-restricted zebra finches to use their distance call to get food. 🍴 Using a closed-loop system, the birds learned that calling triggered a feeder. 9 out of 10 birds successfully learned!