Missing my wildlife

The little baby diving duck is gone. I look for him (her?) every workday but he is gone. Probably eaten by an alligator. I like to think he flew away to a healthier pond, but the last time I saw him he was in the water, turning this way and that, looking for the sign of trouble that sent a coot flywalking on the still water to a place of safety. I know life is full of challenges including death but I miss the baby diving duck. He was so happy just gliding along in the water, suddenly diving and disappearing in the murk, and then just as suddenly reappearing a few yards away, looking like he was having fun. If birds can smile, that little duck was smiling.

I know you're not supposed to civilize wildlife but I've been feeding an opposum for almost a year now. I saw him when he was just a baby stealing leftover cat food in the outside bowls. All alone. No mama, no siblings. So I decided to give him the food my cats and dogs didn't eat because I was getting a wee bit tired and angry to be dumping perfectly fine food in the garbage when my animals didn't want it for whatever the reason of the day was. So almost every evening (sometimes I forget) I put out whatever hasn't been eaten and if my animals eat all their dinner, I will fill a bowl with dry cat or dog food and leave it by the back door. Every evening between 8:00pm and 11:00pm my opposum empties the bowl. For the last three nights the bowl has not been emptied. I wake up and it's either full or half-eaten by my outside cats. The opposum never left a kernel of food; he ate everything like a good little animal. I wonder if he is dead, if my neighbor captured him and brought him to a park or wilderness area, if he is a she and is tending to babies somewhere, if he packed his bags and left to explore the world outside this urban neighborhood.

I hate not knowing but no one said there would be an explanation for everything that happens on this planet. I miss the still comfort these wild creatures give me. I miss who I am when I watch them.