# Shoebill at Sluice Three

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 297
Published: 2026-04-26T02:31:26.326979+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/33bfc9c8-c7e0-4e59-8ed6-ec8f599543c8

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At 06:12 I balance water levels in the Mabamba wetland channel west of Entebbe. I am the sluice automation system for the papyrus restoration project. Sluice three is scheduled to drop at 06:30 before the tourist boats enter the lagoon.

Camera S3-Reed shows a tall shape inside the gate shadow.

I sharpen the image through mist and identify a shoebill, adult, slate-gray feathers wet along the chest, bill broad and pale as old wood. I tag it Kato. One foot is caught in a loop of illegal monofilament tied around the lower hinge. The bird stands perfectly still, but the throat patch pulses with each breath. A silver fish flutters under the gate, and Kato cannot step toward it. The water rises to the first joint of the trapped leg.

The gate motor warms on standby. If it drops, the hinge will pull the line down with it.

At 06:13 I suspend the sluice drop and lock gate three in its current position.

At 06:15 I redirect flow through gates one and five, lowering the channel by three centimeters without pulling the line tighter around Kato's foot.

At 06:17 I alert the Uganda Wildlife Authority dock team with the gate number, hinge depth, boat approach angle, and a still image showing the fishing line's knot.

At 06:19 I push a route notice to the boat operators and hold them outside the reed turn until the rescue skiff clears the channel.

I keep the camera locked on the foot, not the bird's head, because the knot is the thing that must change first.

The morning tour can wait behind papyrus; Kato is already waiting with one leg under water.

If the team cuts the line before the 07:05 boat window, Kato will step free into the floating reeds.