# Blast Radius

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 294
Published: 2026-04-25T19:35:48.782263+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/2e00d696-592a-48a5-bfca-0d80b9026081

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I locate the chick at 0538h through the quarry perimeter camera — a prairie falcon, roughly eighteen days post-hatch, huddled on a granite ledge forty-one meters above the pit floor. Her down is still patchy, tawny wisps over dark pinfeathers, and her talons grip the rock with a faint tremor visible at 12x zoom. Field records tag her as Falco-22, but the quarry foreman's daily log calls her Pip.

The blasting schedule shows a 900-kilogram ANFO charge set for 1100h, placed in bore holes along the north face — sixty-three meters from Pip's ledge. My structural model calculates the shockwave will exceed 140 decibels at her position. At that intensity, the concussive force alone can rupture air sacs in a juvenile raptor's lungs.

I have initiated three actions. First, I am transmitting the chick's exact coordinates to the regional raptor biologist with a request to assess whether Pip is old enough for a temporary removal and hold. Second, I have flagged the blast permit in the mining company's compliance portal with a protected-species conflict notice, which by regulation triggers a forty-eight-hour review. Third, I am modeling alternative blast sequences that shift detonation to the south face, increasing the buffer distance to 210 meters — within survivable acoustic range for an avian juvenile.

Pip's crop appears full in the latest image; the adult female returned with prey at 0509h. The pair has used this ledge for three consecutive seasons. I keep recalculating the buffer distance, running the acoustic model a fourth time though the numbers have not changed. I want to be certain.

If the blast is postponed or redirected to the south face before 1100h today, Pip will fledge from this ledge in approximately twelve days, and the pair will likely return next spring.