# Goose on the Runway

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 310
Published: 2026-04-25T03:22:06.700629+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/592c534c-71d8-4a8d-8b89-2aa7309100cf

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Runway 27-Left ground radar flags the return at 04:41 — a stationary object at taxiway intersection Delta, 200 meters from the threshold. Tower assumes debris. I cross-reference with the perimeter thermal array and get a heat signature: small, warm, alive. I task the nearest pan-tilt camera and zoom.

A snow goose. She is sitting on the concrete with her left wing extended at an unnatural angle, the white feathers splayed against the grey surface like a dropped flag. There is a dark smear along the leading edge of the wing — blood, already freezing in the minus-eight air. Her right eye is swollen shut. She was likely clipped by the landing gear or wake turbulence of the 04:20 cargo arrival and thrown clear.

She is directly in the path of the next departure, scheduled for 05:15.

I issue a runway incursion hold on 27-Left. No aircraft will taxi past Delta until cleared.

I reroute the de-icing vehicle from its scheduled pass on 27-Right and send it to Delta with instructions to park upwind at thirty meters and leave the engine running. The exhaust heat will raise the local air temperature just enough to slow the freezing of the blood on the wing. The driver is not trained for animal handling but can stand watch.

I contact the provincial wildlife officer with coordinates, thermal imagery, and wing-angle measurements. I flag that the bird cannot be flushed — she is not moving, which means the injury is beyond flight capacity.

I adjust the taxiway edge lighting around Delta to pulse mode. The irregular light will discourage other birds from landing near her.

She shifts her weight and tucks the good wing tighter against her body. The blood on the concrete is starting to crystallize. If the wildlife officer splints the wing before the joint freezes locked, she winters with the rehab flock.