By Enrique Saenz for Mirror Indy.

Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the Mirror Indy-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration.

At Marian University on Indianapolis' west side, tucked in between two mansions that now serve as school buildings, lies a sanctuary for native Indiana wildlife.

There, among the three miles of trails winding through the Nina Mason Pulliam Ecolab, is where you'll often find biology professor David Benson. The Ecolab's founding director likes to look for birds up among the trees and atop the bushes. The wetlands and forest are home to more than 170 species of birds.

The trail around the Ecolab's Jens Jensen pond, where Benson often walks, is never quiet. Sounds like running spring water, wind rustling through trees and wildlife trampling through brush or singing their songs create a quiet symphony.

But Benson's trained ear can hear the individual musicians.

"There's a northern cardinal over here that's doing a 'p-pure, p-pure, p-pure' sound. Then there's the 'chewy-chewy-chewy-chewy,' which is a Carolina wren. Then there's a northern flicker doing a 'kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee,'" he said.

Benson is an ornithologist and has studied birds for about three decades. His love of birdwatching has pushed him to be one of the world's best. In 2023, he took a sabbatical from teaching to travel the continental U.S. and identify as many birds as possible. He found 611 that year, the 12th most of any birdwatcher in the world.

But Indianapolis residents don't need a passport to see a bounty of birds. About 85 species of birds commonly migrate through Indiana between mid-April and the end of May, making it an excellent place to bird watch.

"Migration for some of the ducks and shore birds can be a little earlier than that, but in the forest here, you can go out and see over 100 species in a day," Benson said.

More and more people are choosing to bird watch. According to a 2024 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report, 96 million Americans, nearly a third of the country, identify as birdwatchers in some capacity.

"Some people just enjoy the beauty of the birds. They're like artwork hanging up in the branches," Benson said. "Others are interested in the discovery. You never know what you're going to see, so there's a little bit of an adrenaline rush when you see something you haven't seen before."

The rise in birdwatching is a great thing, Benson says, because learning about birds helps people learn about the types of habitats in Indiana that he thinks must be protected. According to a 2019 Cornell University study, there are now 30% fewer birds in the U.S. now than there used to be in the 1970s.

The decline is mainly due to the loss of habitats to development, something happening here in Indiana. The state only has about 21% of its original forestland, 10% of its original wetlands and 1% of its original prairies.

This month, the Trump administration moved to roll back protections for more than 176,000 square miles of national forests, including portions of Indiana's Hoosier National Forest, that opens them to logging. The action could destroy even more bird habitats.

For the last four years, Indiana lawmakers also have rolled back state protections for wetlands, leaving a vast majority of them vulnerable to destruction.

"If you're interested in the birds, and you want to protect the birds, then you've got to protect all these different habitat types that they need as well," Benson said. "You might not necessarily think of yourself as a swamp person or a grassland person, but if you're a bird person, then you've got to appreciate the swamps and the grasslands, too, because certain birds need those habitats."

Benson said Indianapolis is a great place to start birdwatching, and all it takes to become one of the world's best is practice.

A great place for birding

Benson traveled across the country during his world-ranked birding year, including hotspots in southeast Arizona and a region of south Texas known as the Rio Grande Valley.

But he was able to see a large portion of the birds he saw in his world-ranked year close to home. His favorites are warblers, which are small songbirds with bright songs.

"Most of the warblers are a striking combination of colors - reds, yellows and blues," Benson said. "They're jewelry for the trees up there when they're coming through."

Indiana is a "stopover site" for birds migrating between their wintering grounds in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central and South America and breeding grounds in North America. The state's forests and grasslands serve as hotels for birds passing through.

Bird watchers like Cathee Eberle love heading out to Eagle Creek Park. Most mornings she takes her dog Skeeter for a walk along the park's trails and see what types of birds fly her way.

Eberle has been casually birdwatching for the last 10 years. She normally sees songbirds. But sometimes, when she's lucky, she gets to see something less common, like sandhill cranes - long, gray-feathered birds with small, brightly-colored heads topped with red feathers. The cranes have loud calls that can be heard more than 2 miles away.

"It's neat when you see them migrate through in the spring and the fall," she said. "It's really cool because they circle for the longest time, then all of a sudden they just shoot off either north or south depending on the season."

Eberle said that birdwatching helped her realize how small the world really is and how wildlife helps connect us to people half a world away. Someone somewhere, she said, has seen the same birds you're seeing arrive in Indianapolis.

"I always think back to when I was in college. I knew this person who was really into bird watching, and I was like, 'Why?' And now I can see why," she said. "It's just so exciting, because you connect with them."

Becoming a birdwatcher

What you need

David Benson, a biology professor at Marian University and a preeminent bird watcher, said birding is a hobby anyone can take up. The gear needed for bird watching is minimal. Benson only uses binoculars and his phone for birdwatching.

Binoculars are optional but useful for spotting birds at a farther distance than with just the naked eye. A decent pair of binoculars - ones that help you focus on a single area - start at about $150. The National Audubon Society, a nonprofit dedicated to bird conservation, has a useful guide to help you pick the right binoculars for you at different price levels.

Benson also recommends the free phone app from Cornell University's Cornell Lab of Ornithology called Merlin Bird ID.

The app helps you identify birds by their songs and by their appearance. You take a photo of the bird you can see or record what you're hearing and the app gives you a list of birds that have a look the same or have a similar song.

Where to start

You can bird from the comfort of your own home.

"Start with your own backyard. If you can put a feeder out, you'll have birds that'll stay in one spot for a decent amount of time that you can figure out what they are," Benson said.

Check these online resources to figure out which type of feeder and food are best for your situation.

Once you've gotten used to identifying birds, all you need to do to see more is head outside.

"Any city park that's nearby is a fine place to start. Even just walking down a street in your neighborhood is good," he said. "You'll start noticing that you'll find this bird species in this type of tree and this bird species in a different type of habitat."

Benson said the best spots on the west side for birdwatching are Eagle Creek Park and the Ecolab at Marian University, which is open to the public. On the east side, Fort Harrison State Park is Benson's pick for best. He also recommends Holliday Park on the north side and the grounds of the Indiana Statehouse downtown.

The Amos Butler Audubon Society of Central Indiana holds bird walks every Sunday at Eagle Creek Park and at other parks throughout the year.

Advanced birding

Once you get used to birding, Benson recommends expanding your knowledge of birds in the area. He recommends bird guide books like Sibley Guides or others that are specific to Indiana. There are also free computer programs like Thayer Birding Software that can help you familiarize yourself with more bird species.

The Eagle Creek Ornithology Center has a Pokemon-like checklist of birds seen in the area you can use to narrow your bird search.

For more information

For more information about birding, check out state birding organizations like the Indiana Audubon Society or the local Amos Butler Audubon Society of Central Indiana. You can also visit the Eagle Creek Ornithology Center.


Enrique Saenz wrote this article for Mirror Indy.


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Most gray wolves in the U.S. are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, but not those in the Northern Rockies. A federal judge in Missoula will hear arguments Wednesday over the validity of the exception.

In the Northern Rockies, state wildlife agencies are in charge of managing wolf populations, even though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year determined some state regulations are "at odds with modern professional wildlife management."

Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, one of 10 plaintiffs in the case, said gray wolves have not received a "fair shake" under either the Biden or Trump administrations.

"We're hoping that having the court step in and really dive into the best available science and the facts of the matter will help get the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service past its political impasse in blocking wolf protections," Molvar explained.

According to its 2024 analysis, the federal agency said gray wolves are "not at risk of extinction in the Western United States, now or in the foreseeable future." But Molvar countered wolf populations there are struggling and genetic diversity is taking a hit.

The plaintiffs argued human-caused wolf mortalities through legal practices, including hunting, trapping, baiting and even hitting wolves with vehicles, were not adequately reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in last year's decision. Molvar added the agency failed to use the best available science in population estimate methodologies.

"We are hoping the judge will highlight the fact that the aggressive wolf-killing policies are so extreme that they cannot be relied upon as a conservation framework for rare species, like wolves," Molvar emphasized.

He added the presiding judge has decided wolf cases before and acknowledged deliberations may take months.

In the last few weeks of the Oregon Legislative Session, wildlife advocates say the state has an opportunity to make needed progress in conservation efforts with three bills still in play.

The 1% for Wildlife bill would protect more than 300 imperiled species by funding the State Wildlife Action Plan, which is a federally-mandated blueprint for conserving fish and other wildlife. The bill would fund the plan by raising the state Transient Lodging Tax by 1%, up to 2.5%.

Sristi Kamal, deputy director of the Western Environmental Law Center, said the change makes sense, as much of Oregon tourism revolves around outdoor recreation.

"Oregon has one of the lowest state TLT in the whole country and we are a natural resource-rich state," Kamal pointed out. "So to not invest back into the resource seems very shortsighted for us."

Another bill would provide landowners nonlethal tools to manage beavers. A third would fund three new state wildlife coexistence biologist positions, as well as grants for wildlife rehabilitation centers. All three bills are currently in committee.

People in the tourism industry said it would be a blow to business to increase the Transient Lodging Tax but Kamal points to research showing consumers make choices about what to purchase based on the cost more so than the added tax.

"Is a $2 dollar increase in a $200 dollar room at the Oregon coast going to change a person's mind on whether they're going to come to Oregon or not?" Kamal asked.

Kamal added the only money going toward the State Wildlife Action Plan, which is implemented by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, currently comes from the federal government. She said since such funding will likely be cut by the Trump Administration, the plan is in dire need of state support.


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As World Sea Turtle Day approaches on Monday, an expert explains threats to sea turtles and their ecological importance along the coasts of the Commonwealth.

As waters begin to warm in late spring, between 5,000 and 10,000 sea turtles enter Chesapeake Bay. Most sea turtles in Virginia are classified as juvenile loggerheads or Kemp's ridleys, and both mainly use the bay for feeding, according to the Virginia Institute for Marine Science. Green and leatherback sea turtles are found less frequently, with the hawksbill being the rarest.

David Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy, said sea turtle populations are often markers of habitat health, and their diets promote biodiversity in the ocean.

"So areas where turtles are eating, the grass is shorter," he said. "They eat a little bit; it's sort of medium length. Some areas they don't touch at all, and others they eat it all the way down to the sand and it creates all kinds of different microhabitats that are utilized by all kinds of different species. And in areas where there are no turtles, you get kind of a monoculture of tall sea grass."

Green sea turtles create diversity in sea grasses, while hawksbill sea turtles fill a similar role on coral reefs. Godfrey added that jellyfish populations are kept in check by leatherback sea turtles, who rely on them for food.

Godfrey said human activity and development can often disturb sea turtles who are nesting or breaking out of their eggs for the first time. Young turtles use the light of the moon to guide them into the ocean after hatching. However, they're often drawn to lights from homes and businesses on beaches instead, taking them away from their natural habitat.

"The construction of sea walls to protect property or roads, or when people litter on the beach or in rivers that flow into the ocean, lots of negative things happen for sea turtles, their habitat and their ability to nest," he said. "What we do on the coasts is one of the big sources of threat."

The Commonwealth is home to five of seven turtle species in the world - all of which are protected under the Endangered Species Act.


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