Man, oh man. It sounds like an SNL skit making fun of TV news... "What you don't know about your bird's feeder could kill it..." but it's totally true. You saw the story (shot largely thanks to my neighbors who let me run around in their yards)-- but here is the press release for you to check out:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/do/newreal/release.php?id=jun0607b

And a link to Portland's best resource for all things feathered: http://www.audubonportland.org/

Did you see the ship stuff from yesterday? I swear, we need a phojo to come with us and just shoot the behind the scenes stuff-- like the sailors telling us 3 minutes out from our live shot that everyone has to go inside while they swing this huge crane around.. and me hollering on the phone to the station to do a phoner/sky8 combo since we have no live shot.. to the mad scramble to get our 6pm version on the air.. to the knock that photographer Rod S. took trying to climb up and down through these little tiny portals.. to needing a sailor escort everytime I wanted to use the bathroom because, well, it's basically a ship full of men and someone needs to watch the door.

I had a blast hanging out with Command Senior Chief Jeff Baldie from Hillsboro.. riding in on the ships is always different and always an experience. I think this was time 3 or 4 for me.. here's a shot of phojo and live shot engineer Brian R. trying to tape a camera on the front of the ship for some nice time lapse stuff for the web.

Notice the high-tech mounting system:

And here's poor Brian stuck with all of our heavy gear while he waits for his ride back to the station.

I felt like a pack mule at times during the day, reinforcing my sound decision to give up fake nails long ago. And some of the stuff (like the HUGE battery we used to power all our live equipment) weighed so much I couldn't even lift it.

The saddest part: my legs are actually sore today. Good greif, I need to hit the gym more!

Click here if you've ever had fake nails.