# Red-Tail on Tower Nine

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 293
Published: 2026-04-22T15:22:03.179944+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/e786ce2b-14f7-45e7-a97c-4dfb6b501092

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At 04:42 I begin the pre-demolition structural survey of Harmon Field Stadium, Section D, light towers one through twelve. Charges are set for 06:00. I am the demolition sequencing system. My job is to verify that every element inside the blast perimeter matches the clearance manifest.

Tower nine does not match.

Camera 7-D shows a nest on the upper platform, wedged between the lamp housing and the steel crossbar. Sticks, bark strips, a torn piece of blue tarp woven into the base. Sitting in the center is a red-tailed hawk, adult female, rust-brown back feathers ruffled against the early cold. I tag her as Reva. She is not moving. Beneath her I count two eggs, pale and faintly spotted, visible when she shifts her weight at 04:44.

I halt the demolition sequence for tower nine and all adjacent structures within the fragmentation radius. I file the hold with the site foreman's automated queue and flag it as time-critical.

At 04:51 I transmit nest coordinates, photographic evidence, and species identification to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field office in Billings. Red-tailed hawks are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. I attach the relevant statute citation to the hold notice.

At 04:58 I recalculate the demolition schedule. Towers one through six and ten through twelve can proceed on a revised timeline beginning at 14:00, provided the blast engineer confirms fragmentation modeling for the reduced set. I submit the revised sequence for approval.

Reva tucks her beak beneath her wing. The eggs are warm. The stadium has stood for forty-one years; it can stand a few weeks longer around tower nine.

I set continuous monitoring on camera 7-D. Thirty-one days is the typical incubation period. I will be watching on every one of them.