Ben Winger - 2003

Ben has been a birder since the age of 12 when he discovered birding while on a family vacation in the Teton Mountains.  He still recalls the thrill of identifying his first bird, a Clark’s Nutcracker that had flown across the trail, with the aid of a family friend and his field guide.  He earned a BA from Cornell University in 2007, completed his PhD on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago while working at the Field Museum of Natural History.  He is now an Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Birds at the Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan.  Ben’s research is focused on speciation and biogeography, particularly in Neotropical birds.  As his first trip outside the lower 48, Ben believes the trip to the shorebird festival was formative in his desire to travel far and wide to study birds.