Sometimes growing from seed requires patience. It similarly took the self-heal* I spread in my yard a couple years to pop up, but it’s doing great now.
*Not a nitrogen fixer like clover, but unlike clover it is native in my area (iirc it’s native to most of the globe) so I generally prefer it.
Buffalo and Blue Gramma grasses are definitely more drought resistant than clover. They don’t grow very tall either, so you can stop mowing toward the end of the season, let them go to seed, and that will naturally fill in any gaps that might have formed due to drought, damage, etc.
Unfortunately the thing about opossums, as well as chickens and guinea fowl, being tick control may not be empirically supported.
https://extension.psu.edu/do-chickens-guinea-fowl-or-opossums-control-ticks
I would love to be proven wrong if anyone else has other info :(
Clover is non-native in my area. I’ve witnessed native bumblebees visiting clover, but they show a much stronger preference for larger forbs, both native and non-native. For one, they can’t nap on clover (too small, I assume, even when allowed to grow to full size). Additionally, I haven’t seen pollinators other than honeybees and bumblebees at the clover, whereas other flowers attract dozens of various species (as well as their predators, creating a fuller ecosystem).
For sure, I didn’t mean to negate your comment (more of a “yes and”). However I do think it is important in these conversations to acknowledge that clover isn’t a great option for yards when it comes to supporting pollinators (native or otherwise), just a better one. That said, for folks who have to have a grass yard (for rental agreement, HOA, etc reasons), clover is a great add-in. I prefer the native self-heal myself, but it has similar purple flowers and growth pattern to the invasive creeping charlie, so clover is probably the appealing, stealthier choice of the two in many places.