-Funding for "Coastal Kingdom" is provided by by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, which proudly supports this program.

Through the generosity of our members and donors, the ETV Endowment has funded educational and entertaining programing like "Coastal Kingdom" for more than 40 years.

-This is the Combahee River, and this is one of the three blackwater rivers that make up the ACE... And these three rivers make up one of the most incredible ecosystems -- 1.6 million acres of some of the least-developed land on the entire Atlantic Coast.

Today, we're going to visit the ACE Basin, a region that The Nature Conservancy once called "one of the last great places on Earth."

♪♪ ♪♪ So, look at that little guy.

Okay, we got something big on.

There we go.

We've got the bird in.

There's already a chick in there.

♪♪ ♪♪ This is Heather Kraus, and she's the outreach and education program coordinator for Nemours Wildlife Foundation.

And we get to get out and catch some birds with her today.

So, tell us a little bit about your research and what you're up to.

-Okay, so, we have a banding station at Nemours Wildlife Foundation that we operate in the summer months as part of the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship, MAPS for short.

And, so, this program is part of a nationwide effort that is looking at breeding birds and the trends of the number of adults that are in a specific area, the number of young that are produced, and how many adults come back year after year to the same location.

-And you're here in Nemours, and we're in the ACE, but this has broader implications, right?

-It does, yeah.

So, it helps us know what's in our backyard, but then that also impacts what is happening in South Carolina.

-And that's the thing about birds, right?

Since they're migratory species, you can get bigger and bigger and bigger.

-Yes, exactly.

-I'll tell you what I'm most excited about is, I would like to catch some birds.

-So would I.

That's what I always hope for.

-And, so, one of the ways to do it is with one of these mist nets, right?

And I've had a little bit of experience with this, but not much, so can you show us a little bit about how these work?

-Yeah.

So, we use what are called mist nets to catch these birds.

-I mean, you can't even -- -So, yeah, you can't see it.

It's this very thin mesh net.

So, when a bird is coming through, like, from an open area to the forest and they're flying at top speed, they're not going to see this thin black net.

And they'll come into it, and then they kind of land and hit this net, and it's a little hammock here.

And so when they fly into it, they just lay down in this hammock, and then we check the nets every half an hour.

-And, so, you're -- And you're talking about songbirds, mostly, right?

I mean, some of the bigger species would destroy the nets, I guess, but, also, songbirds are what you're you're most interested in, right?

-Yeah, so, what we're studying is mostly songbirds, so a lot of those backyard birds, your cardinals, your Carolina wrens, your chickadees, titmice.

That's a lot of what we catch in these nets.

-And you know what I think is so interesting is birds like that, you know, they're common and we see them, but they're really good indicators of what's going on.

-They are.

They're what's called bioindicators.

So you can tell what's happening across the habitat based on the birds that you see and hear.

-Well, I don't know about you.

I know you are, but I'm ready to catch some birds.

-I am, too.

-So, how are we gonna do this?

We just gonna kind of walk along the net to look?

-Yeah, so, we're going to check all of these nets and make sure that there is no birds in there.

And when there is, we'll take one out and then bring it back so we can get all of the information we need from them.

♪♪ -Heather, we got -- It looks like there's something in -- -We've got one, two -- at least four.

-There's four!

I think there's -- -Yeah.

-I'm sorry.

I probably shouldn't be talking so loud.

-I'm gonna pull this down because I need to get up -- get the one that's at the top.

-I recognize the first one.

-So, what is this first one?

-That is a ruby-crowned kinglet.

-It is.

-Awesome.

I got a bird right.

I'm so excited.

I'm more of a snake, crab guy.

-And it is just in there on its -- with its one wing, it looks like.

-So, you really do have -- This is a kind of a delicate process.

-It is.

So, you have to get -- In order to band birds, you have to go through a permitting process.

So I have a permit that allows me to put up these mist nets and put bands on songbirds.

-And, also, putting up nets like this comes with tremendous responsibility, because you could do -- Especially if somebody left one up, it could do irreparable damage.

-That's why we have to check them every half an hour, because if you don't do that, then these birds are going to get stressed, and you don't want that.

You want to do as minimal amount of harm as possible.

-They look like they're all doing really well, though.

-Do you know what this one is?

It's got a white eye.

-So, she kind of -- That was a dead giveaway.

It's obviously a white-eyed vireo.

[ Both laugh ] Thanks, Heather.

-You're welcome.

-Thanks for putting me on the spot and then bailing me out.

I appreciate it.

♪♪ -So, we got, just from one net, four birds.

So, we'll take these back and we'll -- Well, we'll check the rest of them and then we'll take them back and process.

-What do you see, Heather?

-I see a tufted titmouse.

-Awesome.

And that's a beautiful, beautiful little bird.

-We caught some birds, so we got to go process them and record all of the information we need from them.

-What do you want me to do?

I'll come over on this side.

-Okay.

I'm gonna hang these birds up here that we're not going to do right away.

And then if you want to be my data recorder, that would be great, actually.

-Okay.

♪♪ ♪♪ -So, that's gonna be a male, because we've got that nice -- -Yeah, so, this is one of those things that you never really see, that ruby crown, unless you -- on the wing, so to speak, right?

It's only when you catch them that you can really see that?

-Well, sometimes, you'll see them -- if they're angry or something, they'll flare it out.

And when they're trying to attract a female, they will also really puff out that red crest.

But, generally speaking, yeah, you don't see that until they're in the hand, and then it's got that nice red.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, this one is ready to go.

We've got all the information we need on it.

And there it is.

It's flying great.

That's what we want to see.

So, this is a white-eyed vireo.

It's one of our resident birds.

It's got that nice bright white eye on it that you see.

And, like all the vireos, it's kind of got this little tiny hook at the end of its beak.

-Yeah, it looks like a snappier bill that -- -Yeah, it is.

It's a little bit snappier.

-And the eye is really something, really pronounced when you see it up close like this.

-Very pronounced, and, generally, the adults are going to have that white -- that nice bright white, and the young birds are going to have a little bit more duller gray or almost like a brownish color.

-Is this an insect eater?

-It does.

It eats a lot of insects, so it's going to be picking insects off of leaves and stuff and through bark.

And you'll see it hovering around up in the leaves of trees.

♪♪ [ Bird squawking ] -Ooh!

A tufted titmouse.

And what's unique about this one is it's a recapture, so this has been put on -- Ooh!

-I'll bet, occasionally, they get out your hand, don't they?

-They definitely do.

Yeah.

The wrens are notorious escape artists.

-Boy, that tuft is really evident, isn't it?

-Yeah.

And, so, you know -- -That's a handsome little bird.

-Agitated.

He or she is raising and lowering it.

♪♪ -So, that was quick.

-That was quick.

-So, Heather, I really appreciate you letting us tag along today.

This was amazing.

And, mostly, I appreciate the research you're doing on these birds.

-Well, I'm glad to have you and show you what kind of research we're doing at Nemours and how that impacts the ACE and then all that information that then feeds into a broader understanding of birds across North America.

-And I'll tell you what -- I hope you get to see that tufted titmouse again.

-I do, too.

You know, I like seeing the recapture birds.

-We're here at a magnificent wetland.

In fact, this is a former upland rice field.

And, obviously, no rice is being grown here now and hasn't been for a long time, but that doesn't mean it's not incredible habitat for all kinds of birds -- prothonotary warblers, wood storks, wood ducks, of course.

But what I'm most excited about is some of the aquatic stuff.

Now, we set some traps yesterday, and I've never trapped here before, so I can't wait to check them.

♪♪ Okay, so, here is our first trap.

Now, notice these are set in fairly shallow water, because I don't want them to be so deep that stuff would drown air breathers.

And there are a couple other things I have.

I've got this stake that goes through a hole in the side of the trap that secures it.

Then I've also got this cool float.

This is one of my new designs.

The idea here is, if it does roll into deeper water, this will show us where the trap is if that happens.

So, anyway, let's check one and see what we have.

And the first one has, right off the bat, not much in here.

Some newts, a crayfish, and a mud turtle.

And I love mud turtles.

They're fabulous little guys.

Real common in wetlands like this.

A couple of things I can tell -- it's a male.

It's got a scooped-out bottom -- You know what?

I'm totally wrong.

This is not a mud turtle.

This is a stinkpot turtle.

So I stand corrected.

I had to look underneath the plastron.

So, this is a stinkpot -- Sternotherus odoratus.

But they do -- If you first glance at them, they do look a little bit like mud turtles.

Musk turtle is another common name -- M-U-S-K -- and that's because they kind of smell.

Hey, that's pretty neat.

Stinkpot.

There's something in here.

There's a mud turtle and looks like maybe a siren.

It's hard to tell.

Oh, there's all kinds of stuff.

Oh, that's bait.

Yeah, there's a siren.

A greater siren.

So, what a neat animal.

These are really hard to hold on to.

Let's look at this one first.

Beautiful fish.

This is one called a blue-spotted sunfish.

Boy, that is gorgeous.

You can see those spots right there.

So, it's a member of the sunfish family, but blue-spotted sunfish.

Boy, they're neat.

I'm going to dip it in the water again and... Look at this beautiful water and look at all the tannins in it.

Looks like iced tea, doesn't it?

And that's from decaying leaves and stuff like that.

So a lot of tannins in the water.

Okay, let's see how this is going to work.

These are pretty athletic.

So, just maybe kind of pour it in.

There it goes.

Look at that.

Now, one of the things you notice about these, they have front legs, but no back legs.

So, this has a flattened tail, almost like a fish, like an eel or something.

And look -- external gills.

Greater siren.

And this is a medium-sized guy.

They get quite big.

Wow, what an animal.

This is one of those animals that unless you, you know, were in the right place at the right time, you're just never gonna see it.

They're very common, but just very hard to come across, basically.

Now, they can do some kind of cool things in wetlands like this.

They can breathe with gills, but they also are pretty good at gulping air, too.

Okay, so, we're going to let this one go.

These don't bite.

Some of the other species do.

But sirens don't seem to be biters.

They're pretty athletic, though.

But really hard to pick up.

There we go.

That's one way to release it.

♪♪ ♪♪ Guys, if you look, man, there's some magnificent trees here.

And notice how they're kind of buttressed at the base?

These are gum trees, tupelo trees.

And that's one real characteristic of wetland trees is they're often, you know, kind of like a cypress is.

They're very broad at the base.

Alright, here's another trap to check.

Two stinkpot turtles.

Boy, three stinkpot turtles.

Boy, this is a lot of turtles, for sure.

So, these are all gonna -- I'm gonna pull all these guys out.

It's kind of fun to have this many.

There's one.

And these will bite you.

They have long necks.

And, of course, they're not being mean.

Look at this little guy!

Look at that cutie!

That's an unusual size.

So, you know what?

There's four stinkpot turtles in this trap.

There's got to be some sort of rule about how many you can hang on to at one time.

So, look at that.

One, two, three, four.

♪♪ ♪♪ Oh, my gosh.

Look at that.

So, that's not the siren.

Boy, look at that Amphiuma.

So, this is kind of a medium-sized one.

But, again, not the siren.

This is really a different animal.

And these bite, so I'm going to be a little bit more careful with this one.

But this one has front and rear legs.

And, again, this one, you can see the rear legs.

Very tiny rear legs with little, tiny toes on them.

This is one called a two-toed Amphiuma, because each one of these legs has two little toes.

But, you know, like the siren, an animal that in -- I mean, a lot of people don't even know these exist.

And, again, they're very, very common.

This -- They're very slimy and kind of hard to hold on to.

And, of course, there's the possibility that they might bite, which makes it a little -- You got to be careful with them for sure.

So, I think I'm going to put this one in the plastic container so we can have a look at it.

This seems like too small a container for this animal.

Wow!

[ Laughs ] What an incredible beast.

Look at this tail sticking out.

Looks almost like an octopus tentacle or something like that.

Of course, that's the tail.

And these guys -- See if I -- [ Laughs ] I'm afraid this is going to go terribly badly, but... Oh, man, what an animal.

And this is an adult for sure.

Although I've seen bigger ones, this certainly is a good-size adult.

But, again, a salamander.

I mean, it looks like an eel or something, but it is a true salamander.

In fact, it's a member of Amphiumidae, the family.

And it's -- Whoa!

This is going to be interesting.

And you can see that -- I'm gonna stand away from the jaws.

Let's see if we can try that -- Look at the slime, guys.

So they're just covered with slime, which makes them hard to hang on to.

So, I love that look with the tail.

Anyway, two-toed Amphiuma and a big aquatic salamander that lives in these wetlands.

And, again, it's a real treat to see one.

Very exotic-looking.

Okay, I'm about done with this one.

Again, you want to be really careful handling these, because the bite is really, really bad.

So I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

Oh, what a neat animal.

Well, that's that.

Well, he got away.

Sorry about that, guys, but it slipped right out of my hands.

And I was really kind of too chicken grabbing him and trying to put him back in.

But two toed-Amphiuma and an animal that, man, I never get tired of seeing.

We're standing on 10,000 acres of incredible habitat right in the middle of the ACE Basin.

And we get to get out in the field with Dr. Andrew Bridges, and he's the executive director of the Nemours Wildlife Foundation.

And he's going to show us around today.

Andrew, thanks for letting us tag along.

-Oh, I'm so happy to have you, Tony.

-So, before we start touring the property, tell us a little bit about how this place kind of came to be, how it got started.

-So, Nemours was established in 1995 by Eugene du Pont III.

His family -- they left a 10,000-acre piece of property with the idea that it would be used for research and education and demonstration.

And we've been so fortunate to be the stewards of this amazing piece of property ever since.

-So, Andrew, I've been out here a few times before, and you've got an incredible diversity of habitats here, don't you?

-It truly is a remarkable place.

We have about 6,700 acres of upland habitat.

We have longleaf pine that we're restoring.

We have pine savannas.

We have mixed hardwood forests.

I think we're more known, though, for our wetlands.

We have about 1,900 acres of managed highland impoundments, which would have been the historic rice fields.

Yeah, but you can't really appreciate the diversity of habitat we have here unless you go see some of it.

-Yeah, absolutely.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, Andrew, you guys use a lot of rice trunks on the property, don't you?

-Absolutely.

This is really one of the most important management tools that we use here are the moors.

We'll see the water flowing out there, Tony.

So, what these allow us to do is to manage the water levels inside the impoundments, which are, we see, around the other side, down to an incredibly fine degree, you know, the sub-1-inch levels of water management, and that allows us to create some really remarkable wildlife habitat -- -And, so -- And that's one of the ways you can draw in the birds.

You can create really good quality habitat for some of these birds that might like the water, you know, only this deep, right?

-Absolutely.

We can manage the water to produce food for the birds, as well, which is one of the things to really focus on is creating that invertebrate food for the birds.

-And they blend in beautifully, but I can already see that there's a ton of birds.

So, it looks like a nice group of avocets over here.

-Oh, goodness, Tony.

That is one of my favorite birds that we have here at Nemours.

I don't think there's a more elegant bird in the world.

-Yeah, and that contrast between black and white really makes them stand out, especially when you look at them through binoculars.

-Absolutely.

Curved bill.

And they march in formation across the mud flats together, looking for invertebrates and worms.

-Yeah, it looks like they're moving that beak, that curved beak, just back and forth in the mud, probably fishing out little worms or whatever invertebrate they can find.

-That's right.

Probing in the pluff mud.

So, Tony, you see the great blue herons?

There's a couple of them over there.

-Oh, yeah.

Boy, that's like -- They remind me of dinosaurs.

-Exactly.

They totally look like dinosaurs.

And this mudflat is really one of the really rich feeding grounds we have here in the ACE Basin for all sorts of different shorebirds and wading birds.

So, on this side, you know, we have -- This is all natural, natural marsh and mud flats.

So, this is all drained out because the tide's gone out, but just on the other side of us, on the other side of the dike, we have a fishery.

So the fish that we've been managing for in this impoundment are now flowing out through this dike and through the water, and the herons are enjoying them.

-Yeah, but they are catching them as they come out the other side.

-Absolutely.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Man, this is beautiful.

-Isn't it, Tony?

So, this is a pine savanna that we've worked very hard to restore.

And that open understory is really important, Tony, for red-cockaded woodpeckers.

-Yeah, I noticed the trees.

-Yes.

-You've got some trees that are painted, and, also, you have some artificial cavities here, right?

-We do.

So, we have artificial nest cavities that were installed as a place for the woodpeckers to nest.

So, you know, these woodpeckers, historically, would have nested in longleaf pine.

We're basically replicating those live trees.

In this case, these are loblollies that we have here.

-Yeah.

But they're big loblolly.

-Big loblollies.

Yeah, they have to be 60-plus years old.

These are some big old loblollies.

-And I know one of the things you and I both like is, when you manage for red-cockaded woodpeckers, you manage for lots of other things, a lot of cool birds, but what I'm getting at is reptiles and amphibians, as well, things like corn snakes and rattlesnakes.

In fact, you guys actually do some research here with diamondback rattlesnakes, right?

-We do.

And, in fact, there's probably an eastern diamondback somewhere within a couple hundred yards of us right now.

We work with Parris Island.

We actually traded fox squirrels from Nemours for eastern diamondbacks from Parris -- -An excellent trade, as far as I'm concerned.

-And agreed.

Agreed, agreed.

Research is one of the really -- the cornerstones of what we do here, and we have a very close relationship with Clemson University.

We've had numerous graduate students over the years from Clemson that have come out and worked here.

We have a wide variety of different universities that we've worked with.

It's really exciting.

It's one of the best parts of the job is getting to work with all these young scientists and helping them with their research projects.

-Yeah, I agree.

So, this really is a beautiful spot.

-Absolutely.

This is a unique -- one of the unique habitats we have here.

But if you've got a few more minutes, Tony, there's one more place I would really love to show you.

-Okay.

Absolutely.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ We need to be a little stealthy here, don't we?

So, Andrew there's -- Yeah, it looks -- They're -- I'm trying to be as small as I can.

-I know.

-But if you look right here, there's a bunch -- What do we see there?

Spoonbills?

And it looks like there's a snowy egret.

-This pond to the right often has a lot of alligators in it.

Let's see if they're in there.

-Wow.

There are lots of alligators.

And I've noticed these -- Look at this tail drag.

So, that's obviously where the tip of the tail has gone across, and you can see it went right down.

So, there's an awful lot of alligators that are going from here to there and there to here.

You know, those birds have a lot of pink on them.

Wow!

♪♪ So, Andrew, how many species of birds have we seen?

-I don't know, Tony.

I almost lost count.

-So, coots, spoonbills... -Wood storks, snowy egrets, great egrets.

-We saw a harrier.

-Saw a harrier.

That's right.

Great blue heron.

How many ducks?

-I have no -- I'm not great with ducks.

-Mottled duck, there's blue-winged teal, gadwall, pintails.

-I mean, it's just incredible.

And the other thing is just the sheer numbers of all these things -- big flocks of this stuff.

-Absolutely, absolutely.

We manage these impoundments for invertebrates and for food for all sorts of different birds, and that's -- You really see it when you ride around out here.

-And here we are at the Combahee, right?

-Absolutely.

So, on the other side, we've got the Combahee River.

This is one of the three rivers that makes up the ACE Basin -- the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto.

And the ACE Basin is truly one of the most unique landscapes in the world.

-And one of the things that I appreciate -- I mean, we're obviously collaborating with you guys on an environmental education program, and I know both you and I got our start through environmental education.

So do you guys have big plans to do more of that in the future?

-Oh, absolutely.

It's just so important.

I mean, really being able to spark a love of nature in the next generation is something that was really meaningful, and it's a big part of our mission here at Nemours.

-Well, I'll tell you what -- I appreciate all you're doing at Nemours, but, also, I appreciate you spending the day with us today.

-It's been an absolute blast, Tony.

It has really been a treat.

Thank you.

-So, we've visited some beautiful habitats today and seen some remarkable animals.

But, remember, this is just a small fraction of what's here.

It would probably take somebody a lifetime to explore the entire ACE.

So I guess you better get out there and get started.

Thanks for joining us on "Coastal Kingdom."

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Funding for "Coastal Kingdom" is provided by by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, which proudly supports this program.

Through the generosity of our members and donors, the ETV Endowment has funded educational and entertaining programing like "Coastal Kingdom" for more than 40 years.