I want to thank you for all your advice.

I am hoping and praying that our "Charlie" will return as we have found no evidence of a struggle, i.e. feathers. He has been with us for over 15 years. He was/is my best friend. I have a small garden near the pond. Charlie would come up on shore and lay by me while I would garden in exchange for a handful of pellets. People laugh when I tell them that we "communicated". I would greet him with a "good morning, Charlie" and he would raise his head a bit and grunt. When he wanted my attention, he would also grunt or raise himself up, spread his wings and put on a majested show!

He protected his mate and cignets with fury. So I know he would never just leave. We have snappers in the pond and snakes. We live in Mass. and like I said, the woods are not dense and there are homes along each side of the pond. EVERYBODY knows "Charlie". He has a very unique pesonality. It has been 5 days now and I miss him so much. I am hanging on to the hope that he "had" to leave, but will return.

Thank you, again. I will let you know "when" he returns!!

Sincerely,

Laurie