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Nature calls fans of winter to Mill Creek Metroparks
By kristine Gill
YOUNGSTown
Winter is a season most comfortably viewed through a window, but at Mill Creek MetroParks, it’s a sight to behold up close.
“A lot of people hibernate in the winter, and we want to get them out there,” said Robert Coggeshall, a naturalist at the Ford Nature Center in the park.
Coggeshall conducts photography hikes year round and has a collection of more than 100,000 snapshots of the park and its wildlife.
On Jan. 2, nature enthusiasts and amateur photographers can accompany Coggeshall on a 2-mile photography hike through the park. The group will meet at Lanterman’s Mill parking lot at 2 p.m. and walk through the nearby gorge. Coggeshall said the pace will be slow to allow for lots of picture-taking of interesting ice formations and other winter scenes.
“You never know what you’re going to encounter when you’re out on a hike,” he said.
Though most winter hikes attract small groups, there is still interest.
“When you get those pretty winter days, people come out,” said Ray Novotny, manager of the center.
Coggeshall said some of the best views in the park this time of year include Lake Cohasset and the 105-year-old suspension bridge that can ice over. Hawks, owls, songbirds, deer and turkeys are common sights even in the colder months.
Coggeshall said turkeys frequent the nature center looking for seeds scattered by songbirds that graze at the feeders all day.
On Thursday, Novotny spotted a rafter of turkeys outside the center, and Coggeshall was able to coax a few over. Earlier, cautious chickadees landed lightly on his outstretched hand to peck at black oil sunflower seed.
“You have to be very patient, but you get rewarded if you wait,” he said.
The center lets visitors feed the birds and sometimes empties the feeders to encourage hand feeding.
Originally from New Hampshire, Coggeshall worked in banking in the Valley for more than 30 years, He returned to his boyhood love after retirement.
“We grew up in a small town. We’d leave in the morning and come back at night. [We] spent the whole day hiking and exploring,” he said.
He’s been at the center for two years.
“I got sick of wearing a suit and tie every day,” he joked.
His favorite photography subject is butterflies and specifically, skippers, tiny insects whose two sets of wings make them look like “fighter planes.”
“They’re so small,” he said. “I like them because people overlook them.”
Coggeshall’s home on Old Furnace Road overlooks the park, making spur-of-the-moment photography possible. He usually has his Canon EOS 7D and a 100- to 400-mm telephoto lens at the ready for visits from critters such as the family of nine deer that walked through this week.
“You just have to anticipate,” he said. “I always have my camera with me.”