I am a graduate student working on vocal production and auditory perception of songbirds

with Dr. Christopher Sturdy at Songbird Neuroethology Lab.


Google Scholar ↗Curriculum vitae →


CBC Radio Interview
Listen to my interview on CBC Radio
Raspberry Pi
Read my guest post on the Raspberry Pi website

Publications

13. Sahu, P. K., Nottebrock, K., Ratch, J., Smeltz, S. M. L., Stenstrom, K. H., Deimeke, M. J., & Sturdy, C. B. (2026). Differential response variability of black-capped chickadees to wingbeat sounds and vocalizations. Biology Open, 15(6), bio062598. https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.062598

12. Stenstrom, K.H., Deimeke, M.J., Sahu, P.K., Smeltz, S.M.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2026). What is rescue anyways: A comprehensive review of rescue and rescue adjacent behavior across taxa. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 13(2), 197-213. https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.13.02.06.2026

11. Stenstrom, K.H., Deimeke, M.J., Sahu, P.K., Smeltz, S.M.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2026). Risk versus reward: A systematic review on the threat mobbers face. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 13(2), 184-196. https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.13.02.05.2026

10. Sahu, P.K., Deimeke, M.J., Garcia, A.D., Stenstrom, K.H., Smeltz, S.M.L., Wang, Y., Ratch, J., & Sturdy, C.B. (2026) Re-examining hidden fitness: Female preferences for long-path songs in zebra finches. PLOS ONE, 21(3):e0343886, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0343886

9. Sahu, P.K., Garcia, A.D., Stenstrom, K.H., Deimeke, M.J., Smeltz, S.M.L., Lank, I.J.,& Sturdy, C.B. (2025) A cost-effective Raspberry pi-based operant playback setup to evaluate auditory preferences in songbirds. Behavioural Processes, 232, 105276, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2025.105276

8. Smeltz, S.M.L., Deimeke, M.J., Montenegro, C., Sahu, P.K., Stenstrom, K.H., Camacho-Alpizar, A., & Sturdy, C.B. (2025) Individual discrimination within, but not between, two vocalization types of the black-capped chickadee. Ethology, e13572, https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13572

7. Smeltz, S.M.L., Deimeke, M.J., Sahu, P.K., Montenegro, C., Stenstrom, K.H., Starenchak, I., Rennie, V., Ebrahim, I.M., Jones, J.A., & Sturdy, C.B. (2025) Individual vocal identity may be obscured following colony assembly in captive black-capped chickadees. Behavioural Processes, 225,105151, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2025.105151

6. Sahu, P.K., Montenegro, C., Lambert, C.T., Oprea, A., Deimeke, M.J., Rennie, V., Smeltz, S.M.L, Benowicz, T.J., Patel, D., Phillmore, L.S., & Sturdy, C.B. (2022) Effect of feed-time duration on discrimination of vocalizations in a go/no-go operant paradigm, Behavioural Processes, 203, 104777, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104777

5. Sahu, P.K., Campbell, K.A., Oprea, A., Phillmore, L.S., & Sturdy, C.B. (2022) Comparing methodologies for classification of zebra finch distance calls, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 151, 3305, https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0011401

4. Lambert, C., Sahu, P.K. , Sturdy, C.B., & Guillette, L.M. (2022) Among-individual differences in auditory and physical cognitive abilities in zebra finches, Learning & Behaviour, 50(3), 389-404, https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-022-00520-w

3. Montenegro, C., Sahu, P.K., & Sturdy, C.B.(2021). Individual differences in female black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) fee-bee songs,The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 150(4), 3038-3046, https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0006532

2. Montenegro, C., Service, W.D., Scully, E.N., Mischler, S.K., Sahu, P.K., Benowicz, T.J., Fox, K.V. R.,& Sturdy, C.B.(2021). The impact of anthropogenic noise on individual identification via female song in Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), Scientific Reports, 11(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96504-3

1.Sahu, P.K., Kolay, S. & Annagiri, S.(2019) To reunite or not: A study of artificially fragmented Diacamma indicum ant colonies, Behavioural Processes 158, 4-10, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2018.10.017