Enjoying the feeding of our feathered friends at Mill Creek Park These aren’t angry birds ... just hungry

January 21, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

With the cold weather and snow covering the ground, hungry birds fly in for a quick bite outside the Ford Nature Center in Mill Creek Park.

Feeding wild birds isn’t a necessity, but Ray Novotny, Mill Creek MetroParks’ naturalist, says it offers humans a chance to see and enjoy the beauty of birds.

Outside the nature center, bird feeders provide sunflower seeds and suet for numerous species of birds along with an opportunity for people to observe them up close.

Bird watchers can choose between the warmth of an indoor observation window or bundle up and head out to view the birds from the center’s porch.

Among the birds seen feeding at the center are sparrows, wrens, chickadees, cardinals and the occasional wood-pecker.

At the feeder, a pecking order emerges with larger birds such as cardinals edging out the smaller sparrows and chickadees.

The nature center is at 840 Old Furnace Road, Youngstown, and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.