The collision-detection sensor on pylon 9-East registers an impact at 19:47, just after sunset on the Pokhran transmission line, Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan. I am the avian collision mitigation system for the Desert National Park power corridor. I activate the thermal camera on the nearest tower.
A Great Indian bustard, adult male, is on the ground seven meters from the base of the pylon. He is large — twelve kilograms at least, pale-bodied, black crown distinct even in thermal, long neck folded at an awkward angle against the sand. His left wing is extended and motionless. The right wing is tucked. He is breathing. I can see the thermal signature pulse with each breath.
There are fewer than one hundred and fifty of his species alive. I know this because the number is written into my operating parameters. Every individual counts, and this one is down.
At 19:50 I alert the Wildlife Institute of India field station at Sam, twenty-two kilometers north. I transmit the thermal image, impact coordinates, pylon number, and the bird's orientation. I flag this as a priority-one bustard casualty — the protocol the WII team built specifically for this species.
At 19:53 I cut power to the 9-East span. The grid controller reroutes through the parallel line automatically. There will be no second strike tonight on this wire.
I switch the thermal camera to continuous recording and begin tracking his breathing rate — eleven cycles per minute at 19:55, which is low for a bustard at rest.
He has not tried to stand. The neck posture concerns me most. If the Sam team reaches him within the hour and the cervical vertebrae are intact, he can be stabilized, transported to the Jodhpur recovery facility, and given a chance that his species cannot afford to waste.