ALLIANCE, Ohio — Winter can be challenging for birds in Ohio as food can be scarce, and energy is precious. But, that makes this the best time of year for feeding birds by hand.

What You Need To Know

  • Beech Creek Botanical Garden & Nature Preserve in Alliance invites visitors to hand-feed wild chickadees

  • The program runs from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays

  • Entry is free and birdseed is provided

Beech Creek Botanical Garden & Nature Preserve in Alliance invites visitors to hand-feed wild chickadees. Their program runs from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in January and February. Entrance is free and birdseed is provided. This mix includes chopped peanuts and a variety of sunflower seeds. 

Jim Nero has been involved at the preserve since 2008. He said during the winter, chickadees’ food source is more limited when it snows.

“They’re a little hungrier, the weather is cooler, so they need to generate more energy to stay warm," he said. "So, they’re more likely for their defenses to be lower and want to come to your hand. And then of course with doing it regularly, they become a little more used to feeding by hand.”

Chickadees typically stay in one area year-round.

“So a lot of the birds that we’re feeding, we possibly fed last year and the year before that and the year before that," Nero said.

Nero says feeding birds gives him a calming feeling.

“It’s something to do in the winter, outside, when there’s not a lot of other activities to do so it helps me get out of the house and become a little more active," he said.