Ed: Your post reminded me of what happened to our family. We had a house up in the woods north of Breckenridge and one afternoon our youngest daughter Kate, who was about 3 years old, put her "Nuk" down on the deck. Down comes a "camp robber", AKA Gray (Canada) Jay and picks up the pacifier and off it goes up into a Lodgepole tree. You wouldn't believe the look on our daughter's face. All she said was, "he stole my Nukkie!"
That happened in early fall and,believe it or not, the next spring after the snow had all melted we found her Nuk minus the rubber mouthpiece out in the woods!
Rich
P.S. Thanks for telling your story and reminding me of ours!