She just left here a half-hour ago, but all the same I'm never surprised when a warden calls.

Comes with the jobs, you know?

There are many things that come with this career. This one is always there, but rarely spoken.

She called to let me know Larry went down today. Both he and the pilot still alive, as of a half-hour ago. Air-lifted to hospital.

I'd heard him on the radio this morning, making their twenty-minute check-ins, the pilot relaying GPS coordinates of exactly where they were. Not too far east of here.

Not that the precise locations matter much when you're flying 120 mph and covering 40 miles before the next check-in.

Heard them flying yesterday, too, on a Sunday, and recognized his call sign, GF-105. Figured out pretty quick he was flying his spring waterfowl surveys. Tough flying, swinging the plane left and right, following every twist and turn in the river below.

Flying low enough to identify the species of ducks that you see.

I tried it once. Didn't make more than 15 miles of river before I made them return to the airport and put my feet on solid ground.

Not sure who he was flying with. Didn't recognize the pilot's voice, but report is he was hurt worse than our biologist.

Naught to do now, but wait.

Wait for news.

Wait for our flights on Thursday.

PS: 15:21. Just checked email to see if there was any new news... no, but there was a request by our Human Resources folks to have everyone update their Emergency Contact Forms.

My guess is Larry's was out of date...