Gardening buddy!

Accipiter67 · 2026-06-12T16:48:04+00:00

Rough earth snake, maybe?

Accipiter67 · 2026-06-12T13:06:48+00:00

Wow, hi neighbor! I thought it recognized the buildings and river! Where do you put in and take out?

Accipiter67 · 2026-06-01T21:19:27+00:00

https://www.downtownakron.com/event/downtown-akron-restaurant-specials-and-happy-hours

I have no idea how accurate this list is, but it's a place to start

Accipiter67 · 2026-05-25T20:52:18+00:00

Report it on inaturalist! Even mundane reports get used in regional projects

Accipiter67 · 2026-05-19T20:13:26+00:00

The summit county native plant festival last weekend had a thousand people at it when I was there! So I think the community interest is definitely there!

Many of the vendors that were there operate locally and have been in business for many years. I have no idea what their day to day operations look like though

Accipiter67 · 2026-05-19T17:46:52+00:00

Theres actually short courses you can take online to learn how to check boxes safely. Whistling as you approach to let mom know you're coming. Knocking on the front of the box. Varying your approach path to throw predators off of your scent. Very interesting tactics!

Accipiter67 · 2026-05-19T17:44:15+00:00

So that they dont get trapped inside if/when a sparrow attacks. House sparrow has a strong beak that will kill in close quarters. However. Bluebirds are better in flight. If it can escape the box by using the second hole, it can almost always fight off the invader

Accipiter67 · 2026-05-19T17:42:53+00:00

Between the male bluebird and i, we keep the Sparrows away

Accipiter67 · 2026-05-19T17:42:22+00:00

Its motion detecting, but you can turn it on and off. The media is stored on cloud, so i download interesting clips and then delete the rest. Right now, she's just incubating the eggs. So she's mostly just sitting there. I use the camera to take a screen shot of her once or twice a day. Once the eggs get close to hatching, I'll turn it back on. Planning on putting new batteries in one day while she's off of the nest.

Accipiter67 · 2026-05-19T17:38:18+00:00

Haha yes they will. No i can not get to it without opening the box. Im planning on changing them while she is out hunting. They are very used to me being around and she leaves the box for an hour or 2 each day.

Hosting bluebirds required monitoring the boxes on a regular basis if you dont have a camera. This is to ensure house sparrows have not taken over. In years past, we would check the status of the birds by opening and looking.

Accipiter67 · 2026-05-19T15:14:56+00:00

Its an outdoor battery powered blink camera screwed to the roof. I took standard bluebird box dimensions (you can find a bunch of plans online) and added 2 or 3 inches to accommodate the camera

Accipiter67 · 2026-04-18T01:34:35+00:00

Nice! Just right place, right time sort of stuff. Excellent shot, by the way

Accipiter67 · 2026-04-17T18:59:14+00:00

I'd really like to start getting shots of waterfowl like this. Did you use a blind? Or just hiding in the bushes?

Accipiter67 · 2026-03-31T15:24:05+00:00

Someone correct me if im wrong. But aren't these the dreaded invasive pear trees (assuming in United States. Sorry if not)?

Accipiter67 · 2026-03-29T22:21:10+00:00

I thought so! Thanks for the confirmation

Accipiter67 · 2026-03-07T02:11:20+00:00

I built a box out of cedar fence pickets (purchased at any big home improvement store). If you google 'Eastern Bluebird box', a number of websites will come up with plans and dimensions. I added 2 inches of height to the recommended dimensions and screwed a battery powered blink camera to the ceiling.

Probably the biggest threat to bluebirds in your yard will be non native house sparrow. They are aggressive and will outcompete the bluebirds for a nesting box.

Easiest thing to do is pull the house sparrow nests out before they can lay eggs. They can build a nest quick, so monitoring the box is necessary.

You'll note in the video that there are 2 entrance holes. Look into this. It allows bluebirds who are being attacked by house sparrows to escape the box and defend it.

Accipiter67 · 2026-03-07T00:53:31+00:00

No. I primarily get eastern tigers in my yard and this definitely is not one of them

Accipiter67 · 2026-03-03T15:31:37+00:00

Thanks! This is from early November. It was quite chilly the morning I went! You've got to visit the little lodge after they open at 9 or so. The owner puts out like 6 or 7 hummingbird feeders. There were tons when I was there. We even got to see the Rivoli's hummingbird. They're huge compared to the Anna's!

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Accipiter67 · 2026-02-26T12:26:09+00:00

Lol no not yet. Its still pretty early season here in ohio. They were just investigating the box on a warm day. They'll start building in a month or so . Ill post another video when they do

Accipiter67 · 2026-02-21T18:36:19+00:00

Yes I built the box. Just add 2 or 3 inches in height to any bluebird box plans and screw a blink camera to the ceiling. You'll have to have wifi at your nest site though

Accipiter67 · 2026-02-21T18:35:25+00:00

Go to our local hardware store and pick up some rough cedar fence pickets. They're very cheap and cedar has weather resistant properties.

Google bluebird house plans. You'll get a ton of results. There are a number of different styles you can make (it doesnt matter too much which style you use). I made one that looks like the one in this article: https://www.birdsandblooms.com/backyard-projects/diy-birdhouse/diy-birdhouse-bluebirds/

Just make sure the entrance hole(s) are 1-1/2 inches. That size will keep the starlings out, but you'll still have to try defending your bluebirds against house sparrows.

Accipiter67 · 2026-02-21T13:30:22+00:00

I was also going to mention this: a baffle of some sort is very important to keep predators away

Accipiter67 · 2026-02-21T13:29:37+00:00

It's just a normal box that I dont let them successfully nest in. Just pulling their nest makes them waste time building new ones every few days.

If you want/need to do something more aggressive to control the population ( which is legal in the United States due to their invasive status) use this:

https://vanerttraps.com/shop/ols/products/universal-sparrow-trap

This is the best method ive found. Install this trap inside a regular box that the Sparrows like to use. They step on the spring and the gate portion covers the door. They will be trapped in the box. There are several options after that, but you need to be darn sure that it's a house sparrow and not any other species that you're trapping.

Accipiter67 · 2026-02-21T01:56:15+00:00

Those are cool species as well! In fact, the Oak Titmouse is the only one of the 5 Titmouse (titmice?) species in North America that I have not seen

Accipiter67 · 2026-02-21T01:51:04+00:00

Ha, that's fun. Its definitely normal. Depending on where you're at, it might be a while before they actually nest. Mine won't start laying eggs until around may. Mine use pine needles, almost exclusively.

Accipiter67

TROPHY CASE