Search index as $in in c#

I have a field say birds name and I want to search all the birds which contain words.

public async Task<List<Bird>> GetBirdByName(string[] birdsName)
 {
     try
     {
         birdsName = birdsName.Select(x => x.ToLower()).ToArray();
         FilterDefinition<Bird> filter = Builders<Bird>.Filter.In(r => r.BirdName, birdsName);
         List<Bird> result = await _collection.Find(filter).ToListAsync();
         return result;
     }
     catch (Exception ex)
     {
         await _logger.ExceptionLogAsync("BirdRepository.GetBirdByName", ex).ConfigureAwait(false);
     }
    return null;
}

I am not sure if this use the search index or not but I have created a search index on BirdName field and want to use it if it is not using it. Also how to check if my search index is being used or not?

I have found that we can use OR to search multiple inputs so if join the array with “OR” then will it cause any performance issue? Or I should not change the code