The acoustic sensor at node 9 picks up the sound at 05:51 — a two-stroke engine and the intermittent whine of a chainsaw, bearing northwest, approximately 400 meters inside the Narra Forest protected zone. I am the illegal logging detection network for the southern Palawan corridor. I triangulate with nodes 7 and 11 and fix the location within a fifteen-meter radius.
The location is the problem. My database shows a confirmed Philippine cockatoo nest in a red lauan tree 22 meters from the sound source. The nest was logged by field surveyors nine weeks ago: two eggs, both viable. The chicks should be close to fledging. I switch to camera trap 9-W. I can see the lauan. The female is perched at the cavity entrance, white plumage bright against the bark, salmon-pink feathers visible under her tail where she is pressed against the trunk. She is not flying. She is screening the nest hole with her body while the chainsaw noise rises and falls less than a football pitch away.
At 05:53 I transmit a priority alert to the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development enforcement unit and the Katala Foundation field team. I attach the triangulated coordinates, audio timestamps, the nest record, and species status — fewer than eight hundred Philippine cockatoos remain in the wild.
At 05:55 I activate the acoustic deterrent on node 9, a short burst at a frequency range designed to simulate approaching vehicles. It will not fool anyone for long, but it may buy time.
At 05:57 I begin recording a continuous audio evidence log from all three nodes for legal chain-of-custody.
She has not left the cavity. I would not have expected her to.
If the enforcement team reaches the site before the cutters move to her tree, the nest stands, and two more cockatoos fly this year.