diff --git a/include/bu/process.h b/include/bu/process.h
index 9c16f903cff..22e14eb03d2 100644
--- a/include/bu/process.h
+++ b/include/bu/process.h
@@ -159,6 +159,14 @@ BU_EXPORT extern void bu_process_exec(struct bu_process **info, const char *cmd,
  */
 BU_EXPORT extern int bu_interactive();
 
+
+/**
+ * @brief determine whether there is data pending on fd
+ *
+ * 1 if there is data, else 0
+ */
+BU_EXPORT extern int bu_process_pending(int fd);
+
 /** @} */
 
 __END_DECLS
diff --git a/src/libbu/process.c b/src/libbu/process.c
index ac9bd0d9a8a..1d8372ec47f 100644
--- a/src/libbu/process.c
+++ b/src/libbu/process.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*                       P R O C E S S . C
  * BRL-CAD
  *
- * Copyright (c) 2007-2022 United States Government as represented by
+ * Copyright (c) 2007-2023 United States Government as represented by
  * the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
  *
  * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
@@ -543,6 +543,32 @@ bu_process_wait(
 #  include <sys/time.h>
 #endif
 
+int
+bu_process_pending(int fd)
+{
+    int result;
+
+#if defined(_WIN32)
+    HANDLE out_fd = (HANDLE)_get_osfhandle(fd);
+    DWORD bytesAvailable = 0;
+    /* returns 1 on success, 0 on error */
+    if (PeekNamedPipe(out_fd, NULL, 0, NULL, &bytesAvailable, NULL)) {
+	result = bytesAvailable;
+    } else {
+	result = -1;
+    }
+#else
+    fd_set read_set;
+    FD_ZERO(&read_set);
+    FD_SET(fd, &read_set);
+    /* returns 1 on success, 0 on timeout, -1 on error */
+    result = select(fd+1, &read_set, NULL, NULL, 0);
+#endif
+
+    /* collapse return to ignore amount to read or errors */
+    return result > 0 ? 1 : 0;
+}
+
 int
 bu_interactive()
 {
diff --git a/src/libged/nirt/nirt.c b/src/libged/nirt/nirt.c
index 0ff0ad65591..ea52182dbd6 100644
--- a/src/libged/nirt/nirt.c
+++ b/src/libged/nirt/nirt.c
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@
 #include "bu/app.h"
 #include "bu/cmd.h"
 #include "bu/file.h"
+#include "bu/snooze.h"
+#include "bu/time.h"
 #include "bu/process.h"
 #include "vmath.h"
 
@@ -83,6 +85,7 @@ ged_nirt_core(struct ged *gedp, int argc, const char *argv[])
     char **gd_rt_cmd = NULL;
     int gd_rt_cmd_len = 0;
     int skip_drawn = 0;
+    int64_t start = 0;
 
     const char *nirt = NULL;
     char nirtcmd[MAXPATHLEN] = {0};
@@ -307,10 +310,20 @@ ged_nirt_core(struct ged *gedp, int argc, const char *argv[])
     bu_vls_free(&p_vls);   /* use to form "partition" part of nirt command above */
 
 print:
-    while (bu_fgets(line, RT_MAXLINE, fp_err) != (char *)NULL) {
-	bu_vls_strcpy(&v, line);
-	bu_vls_trimspace(&v);
-	bu_vls_printf(gedp->ged_result_str, "%s\n", bu_vls_addr(&v));
+    /* ensure nirt has started and has something to read from - with 5 second timeout */
+    start = bu_gettime();
+    while (!bu_process_pending(fileno(fp_err)) && !bu_process_pending(fileno(fp_out))) {
+	if ((bu_gettime() - start) > BU_SEC2USEC(5))
+	    break;
+    }
+
+    /* check if nirt wrote anything to error on load */
+    if (bu_process_pending(fileno(fp_err))) {
+	while (bu_fgets(line, RT_MAXLINE, fp_err) != (char *)NULL) {
+	    bu_vls_strcpy(&v, line);
+	    bu_vls_trimspace(&v);
+	    bu_vls_printf(gedp->ged_result_str, "%s\n", bu_vls_addr(&v));
+	}
     }
 
     if (DG_QRAY_TEXT(gedp->ged_gdp)) {
@@ -397,6 +410,15 @@ ged_nirt_core(struct ged *gedp, int argc, const char *argv[])
 	bv_vlblock_free(vbp);
     }
 
+    /* check if nirt wrote any errors from shots */
+    if (bu_process_pending(fileno(fp_err))) {
+	while (bu_fgets(line, RT_MAXLINE, fp_err) != (char *)NULL) {
+	    bu_vls_strcpy(&v, line);
+	    bu_vls_trimspace(&v);
+	    bu_vls_printf(gedp->ged_result_str, "%s\n", bu_vls_addr(&v));
+	}
+    }
+
     bu_vls_free(&v);
 
     bu_process_close(p, BU_PROCESS_STDOUT);