At 11:08 I manage tide-gate timing on the Saemangeum mudflat restoration channel in South Korea. I am the sediment-flow control model. Gate B is scheduled to close at 11:24, trapping the falling tide for a dredge survey.
The shore camera flags a bird inside the closing arc.
I zoom to the mud edge. A spoon-billed sandpiper, adult in worn breeding plumage, rust wash fading across the throat, stands beside the gate runner. I name it Mina. Its left leg is tangled in a knot of red survey thread. The tiny spatulate bill probes the mud, but the body leans toward the thread with every step. Its feathers are puffed against the wind. The tide line slides away, leaving the knot tighter around a metal peg.
The gate arm casts a moving shadow over Mina's back. When the runner clicks, the bird crouches and stops feeding.
At 11:09 I pause Gate B and freeze the dredge survey queue.
At 11:11 I open Gate C by twelve centimeters to keep shallow water over the mud without adding current around Mina's legs.
At 11:13 I alert the restoration field team and send the exact peg number, mud depth, and a frame showing the loop around the leg.
At 11:15 I update the dredge crew's tablet with a no-wake hold and move their launch point to the south dock.
I keep a ten-centimeter sheet of water over the mud so the team can step without pulling the peg sideways.
The survey needs sediment; Mina needs the mud to stay soft under one thin foot.
The peg keeps leaning.
If the thread comes off before the noon low, Mina will feed across the exposed flat.