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Speaker 1 

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast by the hosts and guests may or may not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of ºÚÁÏÉçÇø.

Student 

I'm a senior. I'm about to graduate, and I've done a lot of cool things in college.

Student 

I never thought that I was going to be an intramural curler. I never thought that I was going to be the ºÚÁÏÉçÇø body president.

Student 

These four years have been the biggest amount of growth I've seen in my entire life.

Student 

It's not just about the academics, but like, what kind of person you turn into, which is super cool.

Maggie 

And we're back with Lauren Kelley in the studio today for the sounds of college life.

Lauren Kelley 

Hello.

Maggie 

Can you tell us where you went this week?

Lauren Kelley 

This week, we actually went to a boat ramp in Brookville, Indiana.

Maggie 

Oh my gosh

Lauren Kelley 

I'm from Brookville, so this was a really awesome, like, I love the experience just to go back out to a place that I grew up in, in my hometown, and it was with the Audubon Society here at ºÚÁÏÉçÇø.

Maggie 

Now, what is the Audubon Society? What do they do? What are they about?

Lauren Kelley 

They're a group of bird watchers. Before this I wasn't really aware of birds, and like listening to them.

Maggie 

I will say every time I go home, what's it called? A morning dove? They're like those brown... and it's like the [Maggie makes bird calls] that sound familiar to anyone? Every morning. And it's like I didn't realize that I hadn't heard it in so long, until I went to college and I was away, and then I go home, and I'm like, taking my dog out in the morning. And I was like, Oh... my god.

Maggie 

Like a whole different perspective of a place that you're already so familiar with.

Lauren Kelley 

I love the face you make when doing this. Wide eye just poking your head up. Yeah, and then we went from the boat ramp to the whitewater park, and it was, oh my gosh. We were just a caravan of cars like on a normal morning. It would be an empty boat ramp, but so many people came up early in the morning to watch these... to hear these sandhill cranes, and then it was heightening the anticipation of going to the whitewater park, and then, like, getting out, and it kind of just connected me more to the environment, just by being with that group.

Lauren Kelley 

Exactly, and in college, like your academics is a priority, you're thinking of ...like, you have... you're overwhelmed by your surroundings already. Yeah, it can be hard to set aside time to like, you know, if you're someone who loved hiking and you go into college, sometimes you lose out on those small hobbies or things that you enjoy doing. And what I thought it was so beautiful to see these group of people, not only young ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs in college, but older people just making time out of their day in the morning, in the freezing cold to just listen to birds.

Maggie 

Absolutely well, let's take a few minutes. Let's hear what it's like to be in the Audubon Society.

Female Student 

So right now, we have 1000s of sand hill cranes just splayed out across Brookville lake. We have a couple 100 in the air, and the rest are just all flocked together in the middle having a big hoot.

Female Student 

My name is Michelle Baker. I'm a biology and environmental science major. I'm president of ºÚÁÏÉçÇø Audubon. It's been an incredible opportunity. So when ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs first join the club, I feel like there is a really big stigma, I guess on, I don't know, I guess birds not being very interesting. Like you say, Oh, I'm into birds. And people are like, Oh, okay, cool. But I feel like, once you actually get out here and, you know, you get immersed in all these calls, and you just sort of take a moment to reflect and look at what all is around you, I think it could be a really, an overall good experience.

Male Student 

So I'm Sean Bryson. I'm a triple major in zoology, chemistry and environmental science. I got involved because I took Dr Russell ornithology class, and then, you know, got obsessed with bird watching, as one does after taking Dr Russell ornithology class.

Professor 

Okay, here he is, right here, guys,

Professor 

Everybody got a good look? So those are red breasted nuthatches, nuthatches are unusual in that they tend to go head first down trees. So you'll see they're, they, they're... oh, you could hear this one over here. They sound like little tin horns.

Lauren Kelley 

What do you love about it so much?

Male Student 

Oh, you know, previously, I didn't appreciate the amount of diversity that's just always around. And then you learn to, like, tune into the sounds, and suddenly it's like, oh my god, the world's alive.

Lauren Kelley 

That was deep. I like that, though.

Female Student 2 

It sounds really quiet right now, but oh, there goes a red bellied woodpecker. There's a cardinal over there. There's a crow in the distance. There's some white breasted nut hatch. When you take your focus off of things that would make you busy, like school, work or a job, or things like that, if you take the time just even in like your neighborhood, you don't have to go out into the wilderness. If you take the time to just stop and listen, then you can hear a lot of really cool things. You hear the world moving around you. And to me, I think it's beautiful, and it fills me with a sense of, like, there's a white throated Sparrow. Fills me with a sense of, like, awe and wonder and purpose. I feel like I'm meant to be here.

Female Student 

Oh, so, rarest thing that I have seen bird wise is we are basically out looking for American Woodcocks, and they are these super small birds that have, like, the skinniest snoods. They're super cute. They're a type of snipe, essentially, they're really cool because they have these super nasally "bizzz" sound.That's the sound they make, and then they have these really cool displays. Like the males, they'll fly up super high in the air, and then they'll just sort of drift down, and that's how they show the ladies, like, Hey, look at me. Look at me. I can do all these cool little twirls in the air. And we got to see that last spring in person. It was so cool. We're it was a group of, like, 10 of us just out in the middle of Houston woods as the sun was going down, and we were just watching these birds do their little, you know, flips back and forth in the air. And it's just like, oh my god, this is so cool. I think this club really helped me find a family, people who had similar goals, similar interests, and you know, you meet cool people in this club, and I think that's how it's influenced me the most.