Why the Starling Murmuration Traced Out a Fishing Boat's Silhouette

Dusk settles over a small harbor, photorealistic. For one held breath, a murmuration of starlings traces the exact silhouette of a moored fishing boat — mast included, even a curl of smoke that turns out to be only birds. Below, the real boats sit motionless on pewter water. One gull refuses to join the formation, perched on a piling looking thoroughly unimpressed — that's the joke. The last sun catches the wings. No people in frame. 85mm, 2:3 aspect ratio. These are birds, not symbols; the air reads cold, at once monumental and weightless. Somewhere a radio reports weather that has already arrived in the room.