Africa

Ants carry leaves in a line.
An anteater slurps them up, then ambles along.
A tiger attacks the anteater and carries it up a tree.
In the tree is a nest.
In the nest is an egg.
That just starts to hatch.
The tiger bumps the nest.
The egg falls
and falls
to a branch right below it
where there is another nest
full of eggs that are just hatching
as a giant eagle lands
and sits on her brood
hiding them from view.

ONE MONTH LATER:

The eagle returns to her brood
of three baby eagles
and one yellow canary, Leroy, who says:
“Worms again? Haven’t we had enough of worms this week? Stop, stop, you don’t have to shove them down my throat!"
All the eagles look at Leroy like he’s crazy.

MEANWHILE:
Another part of Africa

A jungle warrior stalks his prey, a wild deer.
A macaw screeches.
A bi-plane flies by.
In the cockpit, the Chinese pilot eats a bowl of rice with chopsticks.
A flock of parrots takes off from a tree.
The deer stops to eat some berries.
The hunter puts an arrow in his bow.
A particularly heroic looking parrot, Amanda, takes the lead as the parrots form a V formation.
The pilot takes his hand off the stick as he gobbles some daikon.
The deer keeps eating as the hunter gets closer and takes aim.
Amanda sees the plane approach and changes direction.
The pilot sees the flock of parrots ahead of him, drops the bowl of rice and the chopsticks, grabs the stick of the plane, and changes direction.
The plane does a loop-de-loop, narrowly missing the parrots.
The plane and pilot are upside down.
The bowl of rice and the chopsticks fall out of the plane.
The hunter pulls back the arrow to his cheek.
The deer looks up.
The bowl and chopsticks tumble down through the air.
The hunter lets go the arrow.
The parrots circle round.
The pilot straightens up the plane.
The arrow whizzes towards it’s target.
The bowl strikes a tree.
A chopstick hits the arrow, which flies off course.
The bowl hits the hunter on the head and he falls over.
The pilot searches the cockpit for his meal.
The deer is startled by the sound of the bowl hitting the hunter and darts off.
The rice falls out of the bowl.
The parrots land and eat the rice.
Amanda takes off alone to the top of a tree.
Where she sees the airplane fly away.
Then she looks down and sees the deer whose life she inadvertently saved.
The deer looks up as if to thank her.
Amanda takes off into the sunset.

LATER:

A boy, Stanley, is climbing a tree with a net.

On a top branch, the baby eagles and Leroy are preparing for their first flying lesson. The baby eagles are petrified but Leroy is fearless and foolhardy. The first eagle takes off beautifully. The second. The third. It’s Leroy’s turn and he just can’t do it.

After several mishaps, Stanley makes it to the eagle’s branch.

Just as Leroy takes his first brave step, he’s swooped up in Stanley’s net.

Stanley’s mom is making pancakes in the kitchen when Stanley tries to sneak past her with his net behind his back.

She sees he’s hiding something. He tells her he caught an eagle. “You can’t keep it” she tells him. “Eagles have got to be free. You can’t put a wild bird in a cage, it will die.” Stanley starts to cry. He shows her the bird. “This isn’t an eagle” she says. “I don’t know what it is. I guess you can keep it till we find out.”

MEANWHILE:

Amanda leads the parrots in V-formation. She looks down at a circus train speeding through the African veldt. She follows it.

The circus gets set up. Amanda & the parrots perch on a nearby tree and watch. In a cage, they see the deer. Amanda flies down to it. While searching for a way to open the cage, Amanda gets captured by a clown, who decides to put her in his act.

MEANWHILE:

Leroy is growing up in Stanley’s cage. He seems to be a canary, so his mom has let him keep him. Leroy sure can talk, usually like Rodney Dangerfield.

Stanley offers him a cracker and says “Polly wanna cracker?”
“Again with the crackers? says Leroy. “How about some grapes? And I told you my name isn’t Polly.” Stanley doesn’t understand a word. He grabs his backpack and runs out of the room.

“Ready” Stanley says to his mom. They are off to the circus.

At the circus, Stanley sees Amanda in a cage. “Isn’t that a wild bird?” he asks his mom.
“Yes,” she says.

MEANWHILE:

Leroy is trying to break out of his cage. The door to the cage is simple, but difficult to maneuver from inside.

While watching the circus, Stanley tells his mom he’s got to go to the bathroom. He takes off.

Leroy gets his cage open, then flies into a window, knocking himself out.

Stanley has not gone to the bathroom. He stands in front of Amanda’s cage. “Wild birds should be free” he says, while casually opening the cage. Amanda flies free.

Leroy lies stunned on the floor. He looks out the window, which is broken, and sees Amanda fly by. “What a babe” he says. He squeezes out the broken window and flies high to catch up with Amanda.

LATER:

Amanda is sitting in a nest. Leroy arrives with some twigs. Together, they look at their brood - five little canaries, including one we may have seen before.

The nest is in a chimney. The chimney is in a house. Granny’s house. Granny is standing in the front door giving a little boy a dollar to clean her chimney. The boy climbs to the roof and knocks out the nest. Amanda, Leroy, and four canaries fly off. One falls to the ground in front of granny. She picks it up. “What a cute little birdy. Just right for that antique cage I got at the garage sale.” She takes the bird inside. “I think I’ll name you...Tweety.”