By: Josh Stahl

The Xavier Bird Watching Club is one of Xavier’s newest additions. Club member and junior Rob Link told the Newswire that the purpose of the club is to educate Xavier students on the birds of the Midwest. Link added that the club also gives students a good reason to hike the various county, city and state parks in the Cincinnati area.

Although the club is still very young, they have already added several bird feeders around campus, the most popular being just outside the Hoff Dining Hall. These bird feeders attract many species of local birds to make a wonderful living scenery here on campus.

According to Link, the major types of birds in this region are woodpeckers, hawks, swifts and various songbirds. However, there are many other species of birds that call Cincinnati home.

On occasion, cardinals or mockingbirds will pay the campus a visit. Mockingbirds are known to mimic the sounds of car horns and alarms. Link stated that he is most interested in eagles, hawks, osprey and other birds of prey.

Although the club does not currently photograph the birds, Link says they hope to do so in the near future. They plan to purchase a camera with club funding, which would allow them to more closely observe the various birds that they have invited to Xavier.

The Bird Watching Club has acquired thirteen members, but Link states that he is currently working on the internal details of the club. Once those are worked out, the club will invite more students to watch the birds with their enthusiastic group.

The Bird Watching Club has already begun to accomplish their goal of educating Xavier about local birds, and they intend to continue doing just that.