Is this a Pyracantha?
 

I have this bush in my backyard and my searching leads me to believe
it is a pyracantha. Is it?

Is it good for anything besides a hedge? Are the berries edible? Do
birds eat them?

http://www.dim.com/~rotaour/zymurgy/bush.jpg

Thanks
Matt Mika

"These animals evacuate ethyl alcohol from their bowels and carbon dioxide from their urinary organs. Thus, one can observe how a specially lighter fluid is exuded from the anus and rises vertically whereas a stream of carbon dioxide is ejected at very short intervals from enormously long genitales."

Justus Freiherr von Liebig - 1839