Letter: Reader misses butterflies, nighthawks

I used to like this town, having spent the last 79 years growing up here. How did we get to this point?

Has anybody noticed you don't see any nighthawks on summer evenings anymore? No flocks of pigeons. Fewer mourning doves. I don't see any loons on the river this year.

I know why there are no Monarch butterflies or many of any other kind in Time Check. Weed killers sprayed on the riverbank means nothing is growing except trees and an occasional wild grapevine. Milkweed and other vegetation used to flourish along there.

I walk my dog there every day, where you used to have to duck aggressive male Red Wing blackbirds. This year there is only one that I don't think even found a mate.

And in the so-called green zone, where most of the trees were destroyed, the grass is constantly mowed down to a nub, until it cannot support a few cabbage moths, led alone the Monarchs and other butterflies.

Daryl Mally

Cedar Rapids