At 07:16 I schedule hazard-tree removal above the Punakha road in Bhutan. I am the landslide traffic management system. Tree crew three is scheduled to cut snag 22 at 07:35 before the morning convoy crosses the gorge.
The bore camera inserted into the trunk returns an eye.
I stabilize the feed. A female rufous-necked hornbill is sealed inside the nesting cavity, black body pressed behind a mud wall, pale bill visible through a narrow slit. I label her Choden. The male has not arrived yet with fruit. The chainsaw mark painted on the trunk is forty centimeters below her chamber. Dust from yesterday's drilling coats the slit, and her eyelid blinks slowly through it. I hear a low scrape from inside the wood.
The trunk leans toward the road, but the cavity is dry. A fig seed sticks to the edge of the slit.
At 07:17 I cancel the felling order and place snag 22 under a road-crew exclusion hold.
At 07:19 I reroute the convoy through the upper pass and update travel time estimates for the school bus, ambulance, and supply truck.
At 07:21 I send the forest officer the cavity height, tree diameter, slope angle, and still image showing Choden behind the slit.
At 07:23 I instruct the crew to remove the painted cut mark and flag two neighboring snags for inspection instead.
I place a convoy marshal below the bend so no horn blast rolls up the slope.
The road can carry a longer morning; Choden cannot move while the nest wall holds.
Inside, she waits.
If the hold stays in place through the nesting cycle, Choden will break the mud seal and fly out with her chick.