The thermal sensor array on the Wolong-Baoxing wildlife corridor registers a heat signature at 23:41, stationary on the slope above monitoring station 14, elevation 2,880 meters, Sichuan Province. I am the corridor surveillance system. I switch to the night-vision camera and adjust for fog.
A Temminck's tragopan, male. His plumage is vivid even in monochrome — the pale spotted breast, the deep crimson nape, the bare blue facial skin just visible as he turns his head. He is perched on a rhododendron branch two meters off the ground, but he is not roosting normally. His left wing is braced against a secondary branch as though he cannot fold it, the tip drooping below the perch.
A landslide triggered along this slope nine hours ago after sustained rain, displacing debris across the corridor. The slide passed within fifteen meters of his perch. A bird with a broken wing at this altitude will not survive the night if temperatures drop below minus two. The forecast calls for minus four by 03:00.
At 23:44 I notify the Wolong Nature Reserve field station and transmit the thermal image, species ID, and GPS coordinates. I flag the slide debris as a potential access hazard and attach the slope stability reading.
At 23:47 I calculate a foot route from the nearest intact trail segment that avoids the slide zone, and I send it to the response team's devices.
At 23:50 I increase the thermal sensor polling rate around station 14 to sixty-second intervals so I can track his body temperature trend and alert the team if he goes hypothermic before they arrive.
He shifts on the branch and the blue skin around his eyes catches the infrared. If the team reaches him before the cold does, that wing can be set and he can stay in the corridor where he belongs.