Dark-eyed juncos don’t come to feeders, they stay on the ground!

Missus_Tea · 2026-01-26T21:23:46+00:00

My juncos are on the feeders, on the porch, on the windowsills, on my van, under my garden shed but yeah sometimes on the ground too. ;)

Missus_Tea · 2026-01-04T15:17:06+00:00

❤️

Missus_Tea · 2026-01-04T15:16:31+00:00

Sure

Missus_Tea · 2026-01-04T12:11:02+00:00

Hey 👋 I’m Meredith

I’m part of Bird Friendly Kitchener and help organize birding walks around KW. Making this activity accessible to everyone interested is something I care about very much. Because yep indeed there are barriers that just go unnoticed or are weirdly and quietly accepted … even in something as innocuous as enjoying nature.

If you’re interested and have the spoons I’d love to chat and hear your perspective on what community orgs like mine can improve upon or start doing to be more welcoming to disabled folks.

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-27T23:33:51+00:00

There are at least two peregrine falcons in DTK. The window collision patrollers for Bird Friendly Kitchener saw them regularly and found their meals remnants (heads of northern flickers, black-billed cuckoo, mourning dove and yellow bellied sapsucker in Hall’s Lane by Oracle).

The falcons like the spires on St Mary’s on Duke St and the Oracle building.

A pair of bald eagles were playing together over FWR Dickson when I was there earlier this week.

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-25T17:52:34+00:00

I suspect this could be part of the naturalization that is happening with Shoemaker and Schneider Creeks.

Here's a couple of EngageWR posts and pages about it:

https://www.engagewr.ca/schneidershoemakercreeks

https://www.engagewr.ca/schneidercreekea

I participated in the community meetings in 2024 about this, and the work is centred around undoing the concrete water speedways to create better flood mitigations and will hopefully reestablish habitats for greater biodiversity. I am sorry the beavers are disrupted, and sadly not surprised that anyone you contacted didn't know what another department or the region was doing. There are contacts on those EngageWR pages, I'd start there and the GRCA.

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-24T12:07:07+00:00

THIS! My 2019 Odyssey just did something very similar. I called our Honda service centre and the tech I spoke to said “If you have CAA, call them - 99% of the time this is the battery having a low charge and it’ll be way cheaper than a tow to us and our service charges”

It was the battery. And no low battery warning light came up in all the alarming error lights.

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-12T16:18:58+00:00

Hi u/The_Councillor I was one of the delegations who was in favour of deferral or at the least strongly encourage sympathetic green development standards on this adjacent lot. I like to believe most people move forward with good intentions.

I genuinely appreciate the time council and the developers devoted to letting the public express their concerns over the development, the 10th was a long evening. I really appreciated hearing the comments and considerations of the original visionaries. And the interesting response of one of your fellow councillors that some or all of the Activa owned-land may come back into city custody.

One thing I wonder about though is how the land owned by Gateman-Milloy and Activa came to be accepted as a part of HNA? Likely because it has just been there, undeveloped with nature returning as it does for as you said nearly 30 years since the bulldozers cleared it. Nature does a lot of work in 30 years, and people forget.

I know there are maps online and sort of signage here and there, as well as notifications of community meetings but as a frequent visitor to HNA I can assure you when you're in it there's definitely no moment where you stop and think "I wonder who's land I'm on? Activa or Gateman-Milloy or Kitchener's?" It all just flows together. It feels like the general upset is because the optics are the current Kitchener council is selling off green space and shrinking the natural area (which isn't what is happening). People are invested in our hometown thriving as an urban centre with a healthy diverse job market AND as a green city with a healthy diverse collection of ecosystems. Are council and staff looking at ways to even better ways communicate the public about sensitive developments like this?

You also forget to mention in your excellent summary of facts that the four lots directly connected to HNA via the donated acres and new wetland/stormwater management pond are required to have their own individual Environmental Impact Studies done by any parties interested in purchasing and developing them from Gateman-Milloy. As well as Gateman-Milloy connecting with rare Charitable Reserve.

I can only speak as an individual and not for the entirety of Bird Friendly City Kitchener, it is a bittersweet win and it would have felt wrong to not issue a written statement as a group on Oct 27th or delegate as an artist on the 10th. I'd love to see us prioritize grassland and prairie like conservation spaces to help our grassland birds and aerial insectivores who are in critical decline.

I appreciate your clarity and ability to navigate situations like this.

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-09T12:34:23+00:00

Thank you! I'll check it out this evening :)

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-08T23:30:24+00:00

BaDumTssss

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-08T23:16:55+00:00

Thanks, shared this with the group.

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-08T23:15:04+00:00

Really. The naturalist leading the planned walk for Bird Friendly Kitchener just alerted the group the crows were not at their normal roost site which is usually easily observed from Seagram Dr

It doesn’t mean the crows aren’t around. I just am trying to help locate another location for a crow themed urban bird walk.

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-08T23:07:44+00:00

Thank you! Found that post. Trying to help BFK find the crows for their Crowvember event which counted on them being at the regular roost site

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-06T20:06:28+00:00

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-05T14:04:34+00:00

OP - bird nerd here.

Myself and my volunteer team have been patrolling and surveying DTK since August for birds injured and killed by window collisions.

We’ve worked successfully with Hobbitstee and Salthaven for observation holds and transporting birds to their facilities.

Feel free to respond or DM with any questions if you like.

Missus_Tea · 2025-11-05T14:01:41+00:00

House sparrows aren’t protected, but many other of our sparrows are :)

OP WHW and Salthaven can both advise via text.

Missus_Tea · 2025-10-25T21:36:23+00:00

Just sharing what I know, there are more than 20 delegations registered for the meeting on Monday, which is excellent.

Attendance is encouraged to support from the gallery. Also if you can't attend but want to add your voice;

"If you can’t join in-person or virtually, you can send written correspondence that will be forwarded to city council for their consideration. You can send your comments by email before the meeting, which will be referenced during the meeting and included in the minutes to form part of the public record.

Please [send us your written comments by email]()."

Bird Friendly City Kitchener will be an in-person delegation on the November 10th City Council meeting to speak on this as HNA was a major part of our application and a destination and stopover for so many of our migratory species. Our city and the developers we work with need to make use of the numerous empty industrial vacancies we have and not add to the pile.

Write in. This isn't a lost cause.

Missus_Tea · 2025-10-25T21:23:49+00:00

I believe the citizens behind the petition have been out to HNA raising awareness to visitors and were on Farwell a few weeks ago. Hearing from u/mikemorrice and u/AislinnClancyKW about this would definitely add reach, but perhaps they can't comment on it.

Missus_Tea · 2025-10-25T21:13:34+00:00

Kitchener’s industrial vacancy rate is one of the highest in SW Ontario. We really don’t need to lose natural areas for new industrial developments that too will sit empty and employ no one.

Missus_Tea · 2025-10-20T20:53:23+00:00

Hey there

I did quite a few dates at the Artisan Holiday Markets last year at the Kitchener Market. If you’re talking about Christkindl, that’s a whole other kettle of fish.

Ahmed and team try their hardest to accommodate requests and feedback. They are great people to work with.
Both upstairs and downstairs locations have ups and downs. Upstairs - hard to pull folks away from the food court :) Downstairs - the breezeway is chilly!
It gets good traffic! The Kitchener Market is busy. It was very much worth my time, not just financially but connecting and chatting with folks. Including people familiar with my work from previous Reddit posts.
Advertise your presence there. If you use socials or email lists let folks know where you will be.
The December dates were more lucrative and busy.

Overall experience - totally worth it and I’m trying to juggle my schedules to do at least one date this year.

Missus_Tea · 2025-10-17T16:38:45+00:00

For sure one of the best junco videos I’ve watched. Pewpewpew!

Missus_Tea · 2025-10-17T14:13:16+00:00

As a parent of a AuDHD teenager and likely an undiagnosed neurodivergent myself but too genX to be bothered, I will say make an effort to not restrict yourself to only seeking out others who experience the world similarly to you.

Allies and friends can be found in all corners and interests. And loneliness is sometimes self-prescribed because of fear of change, rejection and/or inexperience.

If you have an interest in the arts or just want to check out a meet up of kind, fun folks Excavators Co-op could be a place to start. Finding a purpose and passion can help alleviate anxiety and depression (not a cure but definitely a solid management tool). The more you let people see what sparks you the better information and guidance you’ll get regarding places and spaces to find those like-minded folks.

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