The morning of Jan. 15, 2026, and Jan. 23, 2026, the Biology Club put up bird feeders in the trees of Clover Hill’s campus to attract birds for bird watching.
At the freshman Biology Club meeting on Jan. 15, the club used pinecones collected by members and coated them in a mixture of peanut butter and bacon grease, then rolled the pinecones in a blend of bird seed. Using twine to tie them to the trees, the club members hung their feeders on the trees. During the sophomore and upperclassmen meeting, students hung cages with suet cakes for the birds to eat, with cayenne pepper and other spices to deter squirrels from eating the birds’ food. Club sponsor, Dana Johnson, explains why the Biology Club hung the feeders.
“In the wintertime, there’s not as much for the birds to eat, so we wanted to take care of that problem. But the other thing is that the best time to go birding is the wintertime because all of the leaves are off the trees. We were trying to attract birds for us to be able to see them on campus with the bird feeders,” Johnson said.
On campus, the Biology Club has seen a wide variety of birds, including: Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Starlings, Crows, Red-shouldered Hawks, Rufous-sided Towhees, Tufted Titmice, Turkey Vultures, Eagles, Mallards, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, a Great Blue Heron, and many different kinds of sparrows.
At the upperclassmen meeting, the Biology Club spotted two possums and a red eft salamander. The club and its organizers are entering the beginning stages of building a vernal pool on campus to restore habitats that have been lost due to development.
“We’re working hard to get a vernal pool installed on campus. We’re working with Mrs. Huber and the Department of Wildlife Resources and a guy who owns a company that digs vernal pools. We’re hoping in the near future we can get one installed on campus to take care of the destruction that has happened around us, all the trees and forests that have been cut down because they need a place to be,” Johnson said.
With the Biology Club’s attention to wildlife, they are hoping to support our local ecosystem to make Clover Hill a pleasant place for all of its inhabitants.
