How the heck did they get that shot!

I was watching a TV show last night about the migration of birds.  It was incredible to hear how far many of these birds will fly every year.  And how mysterious it is for us humans to ponder the drive, the push, the in-bred impetus that puts them up in the air one day for this long long journey to a place that they seem pre-programmed to be.
Seems to be enough for riveting drama, eh?  But the other part of this program that I found almost more riveting was the footage.
The camera work was quite simply, incredible.  We were so close to the geese, swans, storks, ducks,  that we could see their tail feathers being the perfect "rudders" and adjusting their flight patterns every so slightly.  We were so close that we could see their eyes blink, their awkward feet splaying out endearingly, we could almost hear them breathing.  In many cases the angle of the shot would include the earth beneath, and their destinations take them over some gorgeous scenes.
We have become so inured to seeing stuff like this that I suppose most people would just take such images for granted.  Most people would never stop to think - hey, whose taking this footage?  What human being is so close to this bird with what camera?  And how come this bird is not zooming quickly away from the human being and the camera?  Did the participants in this "shoot" have a production meeting?  "Okay, now fly in a pattern like this and whatever you do, don't look at the camera!"
It didn't take me long to devote my full attention to this production.  We saw birds flying at night, flying through snow, through fog, we saw them flying right past the Statue of Liberty.
Yes, the awesome journeys are mind-boggling enough.  But let's also clap our hands for the human species in this drama.  Let's remember that this movie extravaganza was brought to us by a human being in a plane, with a camera, in all kinds of weather, in all kinds of countries - surely this is also it's own kind of extreme accomplishment.
What does this say about our knowledge base in the year 2010.  What are we learning here.  We're knowing things that no other generation has ever seen or known.  It's no wonder that young people today are way smarter than their parents, and certainly their grandparents ever were at their age.
My first comment is always - "How the heck did they get that shot!"