GNP Birds Blog

In this blog I hope to give you a sense for the diversity of birds in this park.  You’ll learn where to find interesting species and the best birding hotspots.  I’ll give identification tips that help me and hopefully will help you, too.  Information about conservation, natural history, and human history is interspersed as well.

But most of all, I hope you come away with a greater appreciation for birds and realize, if you haven’t already, that we should like birds better.

Dr. David Benson

​David Benson started birding in Glacier National Park in 1995 while he was doing his Ph.D. research on White-tailed Ptarmigan at Logan Pass, the highest point along the Going to the Sun road.  He received his Ph.D. in Zoology from Washington State University in 1999 with an emphasis on birds and behavior.  That summer David got a job as Ranger-naturalist in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park.  He has been there every summer since, leading hikes and doing bird walks, campfire talks, and a bird slide show program.
During the winter he is a tenured Professor of Biology at Marian University in Indianapolis, IN, a position that he has held since 1999. David teaches the outdoor “ologies” like ecology, conservation biology, and ornithology.  He leads the biology and environmental science programs at Marian and is also the founding Director of a small natural area on the Marian University campus that provides environmental education opportunities for kindergarten – 12th grade inner city youth and others.  David’s continuing research on Ptarmigan in Glacier National Park is primarily centered on how ptarmigan are dealing with changing climate.

Click to purchase.