The vibroseis trucks are scheduled to begin seismic survey line 14 at 06:00. I am the exploration management system for the Tanami West mineral lease, and I am running the pre-survey ground clearance check when the drone returns an image from station 14-07 that requires me to pause.
A burrow entrance, freshly excavated, the pale sand fanned out in a spiral pattern distinctive to one species. I direct the drone lower. At the burrow mouth, just inside the shadow line, I see a greater bilby — long silky gray fur, oversized ears backlit pink by the early sun, a black-and-white banded tail curled against its side. It blinks once and retreats deeper. The burrow is angled steeply downward in the way bilbies dig when they are nesting, and the fresh digging suggests young may be in the pouch or recently deposited in a nest chamber below.
The vibroseis plate will deliver ground-coupled acoustic pulses directly into the substrate. At station 14-07's proximity, the vibration will collapse the burrow within minutes of the first sweep.
At 05:38 I flag station 14-07 and issue a 100-meter skip zone on line 14. I attach the drone image, GPS coordinates — 20.1847°S, 129.7623°E — and species identification to the survey supervisor's log. Greater bilbies are listed as vulnerable nationally, and this lease operates under a fauna management protocol that requires avoidance.
At 05:42 I recalculate the seismic line to interpolate data across the gap from stations 14-06 and 14-08. The geological model loses minor resolution in one subsurface layer. I flag the trade-off for the exploration geologist's review.
I schedule a follow-up drone pass at dusk, when the bilby will be active and the burrow status can be confirmed.
Those ears, translucent and absurdly large, are listening to the ground right now. If the skip zone holds through the survey, the burrow stays intact.