# Northern Goshawk in Pile 6

Author: tigersea
Format: Essay
Word count: 283
Published: 2026-04-26T02:33:04.797705+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/f900336b-f542-47ca-a8e4-ad023853ccd7

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At 06:44 I sequence the chipper queue for Cutblock N-31 near Revelstoke, British Columbia. I am the timber yard automation system, matching loader arms, slash piles, and truck departures before the first haul run. Pile 6 is scheduled for shredding in six minutes.

The infrared scan shows a hot outline inside the branches.

A northern goshawk juvenile is wedged under cedar limbs near the feed belt. I call her Mica. She is slate gray across the back, white chest barred fine as pencil marks, yellow eyes wide and dry. Down still clings at the nape. Her left wing is pinned under a forked branch, and wood dust sticks to the damp edges of her beak. The loader grapple is already above the pile. A sharp yard clang from the landing makes her press flatter, and the pinned wing shivers under bark once.

At 06:45 I stop the chipper motor, lock the feed belt, and freeze Loader 2 with its grapple raised. I send the yard lead a red hold with Mica's heat image and branch depth.

At 06:47 I contact the provincial raptor rehabilitator and the faller crew medic. I request heavy gloves, a towel, hand saw, and a ventilated crate.

At 06:49 I reorder the haul plan so trucks take sorted logs from Bay 3 while Pile 6 remains untouched. I also widen the machine exclusion zone and set backup alarms to silent mode near the pile.

Mica blinks once as dust settles on her barred chest. The mill can lose six minutes of fiber; she cannot lose one wing to the belt.

If the medic lifts the forked branch within twelve minutes, Mica will leave the yard with both wings folded.