Put it in Writing: Missing the usual summertime garden visitors

Summertime in my garden was not the same this year. Article content

Some of my always-welcome visitors failed to arrive and one or two unwanted guests crashed the party. The chickadees who usually flit among my feeders, their cheerful chickadee-dee-dees announcing their arrival, were no-shows, with the exception of a solitary chap who stopped by briefly, once or twice. Article content

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Gone, too, were my mourning doves, with the exception of the occasional pair who came a few times but did not stay to dine.

The absence of these birds reminded me that there were other garden visitors missing as well. There were no toads in my garden this summer, I did not see my resident garden snake, Mr. Slithers, and bumblebees were conspicuous by their absence.

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