“Beautiful as these fields are, they are made even more distinct by one remarkable event: the gathering of starlings before their annual migration. In fact, here comes one now…”

(A starling flies in, delicate as ever. Camera zooms in to follow it)

“This ‘early bird’ has an important job, for he’ll be leading the thousands of starlings who are soon to arrive.”

(Camera stays on the starling. No other birds come)

“Patience, obviously, is a virtue with the starlings. They, um, normally come this late.”

(Camera drifts to the right. There are hundreds of starlings lying limp on the field, each with one of those plastic can rings around their neck. Camera whips back to the left)

“Ahh, but even just the one starling can do mighty things. In fact, this one is about to perform its signature mating call before its migration.”

(Starling does not perform its signature mating call. After a few minutes of silence, a stick comes from just off camera and pokes the starling. It staggers, then falls asleep)

“Of course, nature is unpredictable—the birds especially. But nothing’s more unpredictable than the wildlife of the ocean. Let’s pan to the ocean. This is an ocean documentary now.”

(Camera pans to the ocean, where a small boy is pouring a drum of oil into a tide pool with a toothy grin)

“That’s Jason. He likes computers.”