-Funding for "Coastal Kingdom" is provided 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 programming like "Coastal Kingdom" for more than 40 years.

-Additional funding provided by... ♪♪ ♪♪ -So, when we're filming "Coastal Kingdom," we get to do some really amazing things, like catch this alligator that we just worked up.

But not everything we film fits into one of our show categories.

But it's still really good stuff and it's stuff that we want you to see.

So we put it all together in a show called "Trail Mix."

We hope you like it.

♪♪ 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.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, one of the things that's really cool about animals is you don't have to go deep into the forest to find things.

A lot of times you can walk around a building like this and see lizards and insects and all kinds of cool things.

So, let's see what's here.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, guys, I was looking up in the rafters here, and I was first attracted by what I think is probably a Carolina wren nest.

But that was not a Carolina wren sticking its head out.

So, I'm going to grab a chair or a ladder or something and see if I can get up here and get a better look, but I think I know what it is.

I'm pretty sure of what I saw.

I'm just going to kind of reach in here.

Yeah, it feels like what it's supposed to.

And you know what this is?

I would... You know, there's no eggs or no bird in the nest, but look what's in here.

Just what I thought -- a little snake.

So, this is a yellow rat snake, or a greenish rat snake.

And I'm going to step down off this ladder.

And, boy, pretty little snake, and kind of small to be raiding bird nests.

But this could actually eat a Carolina wren egg or maybe a little tiny chick.

And I'm sure that's what it was doing up there.

I don't see any telltale signs like bulges in it or anything like that, so I don't think it got any birds or any eggs, but obviously that's what it was doing up there, was looking for something to eat, for sure.

So, of course, this snake gets, you know, 6 feet long sometimes and much, much bigger than this.

And they can eat duck eggs and -- and squirrels and all kinds of things.

But at this size, they eat mostly lizards, occasionally little bird eggs and little chicks.

I mean, they're harmless.

It's a nonvenomous snake.

But I guess it's not -- it's not harmless if you're a chickadee.

So, I think instead of putting this back in the nest -- that seems kind of unfair to the Carolina wren -- I think what I'm going to do is just move this one over just 50 feet this way.

♪♪ So, that little snake will be fine.

It's well within its home range.

But I noticed this earlier.

And if you look right here, there are some egg cases, and there's also some webbing around it.

Now, I'm not great with spider egg cases, but this is a really easy one because these are super spiky.

They are covered with really sharp little spikes and they're confined in the webbing.

It looks like maybe the animals have emerged out of this, but these are widow eggs, and they look like they're probably brown widow because of all those spikes on them.

Of course, brown widows are -- that's one of our venomous species of spiders.

And if they bite you, it can -- it hurts and can do some damage.

You'd definitely need medical treatment.

But anyway, kind of interesting.

I wish the spider was here to look at, but at least we have the eggs, so we know they live in the area.

The widow spiders -- there's red widows, there's brown widows, there's black widows.

The two we have right here most typically are the black widow and the brown widow.

And they're closely related.

They have similar venom.

I think more people have heard of the black widow, and it probably has a worse reputation.

But I can tell that the little guys have emerged because there's holes in the egg case.

So it looks like there's a hole in it and they came out of that hole.

There's a green anole that's on the base of the picnic table here.

This looks like a little female.

I think she's already seen me.

Let me see if I can catch her.

Oh!

Missed!

She's running down the edge of this thing.

These guys can make you look -- make you look silly if you're not careful.

Okay, I caught it.

Oh, look at that little tyke.

I think it is a little female.

If you look at it, it has a dewlap, a throat fan, but a really small one.

Not very developed.

A male, even at this size -- that dewlap would be bigger.

And of course, that dewlap is how males let other males know they're in the territory, and also attract females.

But yeah, I think this is a little, little female green anole.

These are great little guys.

Natural pest control.

Of course, this will turn bright green, or it can turn brown like this, depending on mood and probably on temperature, too.

So, a couple things I noticed.

One is this is missing the tip of the tail.

So, it lost just the very tip of the tail.

And of course, that'll grow back.

The other thing is it's turning green in my hands.

And that's probably because we're out in the sun and it's pretty warm out here.

♪♪ So, this time of year, one of the things I like to do is keep an eye out for sassafras trees, because a lot of times there's something really cool on them.

♪♪ Here's something kind of interesting if you look at these folded-over leaves.

Also, there's been some feeding on this leaf.

This is a sassafras.

Now, sassafras trees are kind of neat.

They have three different types of leaves.

They have this three-lobed leaf.

They have one that looks just like this, with no lobes.

And then sometimes they have two lobes, one that's kind of like a mitten.

Here's one right here.

Here's another one that's kind of folded over.

Look at this whole thing is just kind of sandwiched together and then stitched together.

And look what's inside.

Look at that caterpillar.

So, this is called a spicebush swallowtail.

And spicebush swallowtail caterpillars, the later instars like this have these wonderful eyespots on them.

And you can imagine what this is good for.

Probably startles predators.

I mean, if you think about it, if a predator was to see this, that eyespot might make this look like, you know, a snake or a lizard or something, something other than a caterpillar.

And they are beautiful.

I mean, the green on this is just absolutely gorgeous.

Now, these animals are still vulnerable.

I mean, they have some protection, but things like wasps will feed on them.

And so, you know, they can protect themselves and hide the best they can by staying coiled up in that leaf, but eventually, predators get them.

In fact, predators probably get most of them, but some of them get the opportunity to turn into one of our most beautiful swallowtail butterflies.

So, the host plant of this species is sassafras.

So, that doesn't mean that the adults are going to nectar on this or anything like that.

It means that's what the caterpillars are going to feed on.

And sometimes these will actually form a chrysalis and put that somewhere else.

So it's not even always on the sassafras.

But that host plant is very important for them.

If they don't have these leaves to feed on, then they can't grow up and get big enough to where they can metamorphose and turn into a butterfly.

[ Birds chirping ] Guys, I was walking along this road, and I heard first, and then saw, and right up here is the painted bunting male.

And it has got one of the most melodic calls.

[ Bird chirping ] Really, really recognizable.

But it's one of the prettiest birds in the Low Country.

I mean, without a doubt.

Beautiful, beautiful blue and red and green.

It's just a gorgeous, gorgeous animal, and it's so fun to hear them and see them.

So, the males are very brightly colored, but the females are just kind of a light green color, not nearly as showy, which makes sense because they blend in well, especially when they're nesting, with, you know, vegetation and things like that.

But the males can be brightly colored to attract females and to demonstrate that this is their territory and things like that.

Anyway, painted bunting.

It looks like... You know, they look like little hand-painted birds.

They look like little tropical birds.

But it's important to remember -- bright colors, but they're only about this big.

I'll tell you what.

I never get tired of seeing these.

They've got a beautiful call, and that is one beautiful bird.

So, that was really neat seeing that painted bunting.

But the real reason that I came down here is I never get tired of looking at this snag.

This old live oak tree that, 20 years ago or so, I first got a look at this tree.

I'll tell you what, it doesn't look very different than it did.

So, that live oak wood is very rot-resistant, and it's lasted a long time.

And it's been fun to watch all kinds of birds perch on it.

I've seen red-headed woodpeckers nest in this thing.

It's just, you know, it lived for a long time as a live oak.

And then even after it died, it's still providing really good quality habitat for lots of animals.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Animals calling ] Guys, do you hear that noise?

So, we were actually headed to another spot for another shoot and heard this, and I knew exactly what it is.

In the spring, a lot of times this time of year, you hear this call.

And these are male toads that are calling, trying to attract females.

I actually hear some leopard frogs in there too, but mostly what I hear is toads.

So, they've just cut some of the vegetation along the edge here, so it may be harder to find them, but I'm going to see if I can catch one of these little guys.

There's a bunch of mated pairs right here.

These animals reproduce by external fertilization.

So, what they're doing is they're finding a mate and the female is releasing eggs and the male is releasing sperm.

So, externally, they form in the water and the eggs are fertilized.

And so, this is a bunch of pairs that are together.

And I see one little male right here.

It's by himself, and this is one that's been calling.

[ Loud trilling call ] And so, they have kind of a vocal sac.

And I think what I'll do is just carefully pick up this little male.

I got him.

And, man, look at that little guy.

Toads are cute!

I mean, they are really cute.

And sure enough, this is a male.

Of course, we saw it calling, but it has a very thickened dark throat patch right here.

And that's the vocal sac, and that's how it makes noise.

And female toads will hear that noise, and that's how a male can attract a female or a mate to him.

You can hear one in the background calling right now.

[ Loud trilling call ] So, I already see some strings of eggs, and these eggs have already been fertilized.

And they're going to hatch into these little tiny tadpoles.

I mean, the tadpoles are really small.

And toads metamorphose, or change into adult shape, at a really small size.

I mean, they are tiny.

And as you can imagine, a lot of them get eaten by predators.

I mean, it's hard enough to be an adult toad and survive, but if you're a toad that long, you've got to hide a lot.

But eventually those toads will get big enough where they can come back to a pond like this and reproduce themselves.

So, toads spend most of their time on land, but like most amphibians, they have to come to the water to breed.

♪♪ So, one of the really cool things -- you know, we were on our way to a different shoot, but we were using our ears.

Sometimes you really got to listen, too.

You may not have ever seen these toads if we hadn't heard them first.

So, you got to keep your ears open as well.

[ Loud trilling call ] ♪♪ Alright, I'm gonna let this little guy go.

♪♪ [ Saw whirring ] So, I'm doing one of my favorite things.

I'm building a trap.

I know it looks suspiciously like a trash can, but we're cutting windows out of here.

We're going to put a top on it.

In fact, let me show you what it... It's kind of like one of those baking shows where they have the dish that's already prepared.

So I just happen to have that right here.

Here's a finished trash-can trap.

And you notice it's got the window here so that water can go in and out because this is going to be submerged most of the way into the water.

And then there's got to be a way to catch the animal.

And if you see right here, there are funnels.

Here's one that hasn't been painted or installed.

And this is a repurposed minnow trap that was kind of getting rusty and torn up.

So, we put these funnels in here, and then we've got a top that snaps on, and then a bungee cord that's going to keep this nice and tight and keep it shut and keep anything from getting out.

But this is going to be to catch all kinds of neat aquatic animals -- a small fish that can fit through this funnel, but aquatic snakes, big aquatic salamanders, tadpoles, all kinds of neat things.

And this will be a really good way to sample what types of animals are living in some of our wetland.

[ Tools whirring ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ So, we've set our trash-can traps in a gorgeous spot in the ACE Basin, and they've been out for a couple days, and I can't wait to see what's in them.

Let's see how... Well, I know about how deep it is because of the trap here.

God, this is -- this is a neat spot.

Boy, the water is really dark.

There's a lot of tannins in it, so it looks like tea.

You notice I've got bungees on the top of this, and that'll keep things from opening them, like raccoons and things like that.

Okay, these are -- as you can imagine, this is pretty heavy until a lot of the water drains out.

Let's see what's in here.

Looks like some interesting stuff.

Lots of crayfish.

So, I've got a little container here.

Wow, look at that.

It's a handful of crayfish.

That's kind of cool.

So these things work on crayfish.

Now, these look like they're Procambarus of some sort.

Now, crayfish are really hard to identify.

You have to have first-form males, and it's just kind of difficult.

But I think that is the genus of these.

So, these were baited with just some chopped fish, some cut bait, and also some gator chow.

Gator chow is the stuff that we feed to our alligators, and it has all kinds of good stuff in it that aquatic creatures would like.

So, just crayfish in this one, but we've got some others to check, so let's go check those.

♪♪ ♪♪ You know, this is some really cool habitat.

Really, really wild-looking.

Good, good swamp.

Boy, there's a deep hole right there.

I'm glad I didn't take a bigger step than I did.

Okay, let's see what's in this one.

Looks like some interesting little fish in here.

There's a neat fish.

Boy, a beautiful little fish.

Bluespotted sunfish.

Look at that gorgeous little guy.

And that's one that loves these kind of swamp wetlands like this.

So, it looks like just -- just sunfish.

It looks like mostly these bluespotted sunfish.

And, boy, they look almost like tropical fish.

They're gorgeous.

And you always wonder why a fish would be this brightly colored in a -- in really dark water like this.

But they are really, really pretty.

They get, you know, about this long or so, so they're not big fish.

And little, tiny crayfish.

That's kind of cute.

Probably the same kind, just not as big.

♪♪ So, this is -- you can tell it's a little pool created by a beaver dam.

There are several beaver dams here.

Kind of cool.

Maybe there'll be something interesting in this one.

Wow!

Two really cool things.

Check this out, guys.

Looks like -- I thought it was two different kinds of salamanders, but it looks like it's only one.

So, these are amphiumas, which are big aquatic salamanders.

And if you look inside there, you can see them.

I mean, they look kind of like eels.

And they have... They're really interesting in that they have four legs, but the legs are really, really small.

So, these tiny little appendages.

And they really don't use them.

You see this one kind of swim.

They really more swim and crawl on their bellies than anything else.

Maybe this one will crawl right out into the container.

That's pretty neat.

Now, it's a little hard to see because... Oh, there's a... Check this fish out, too.

Looks like a mud sunfish.

Yep, that's what it is.

And they don't get very big, either.

Bigger than this, but not much bigger.

Okay, we're going to let this one go because we can -- and we can take a look at the other one.

Let this one crawl right on out.

♪♪ They're super slimy and hard to hang on to, so I'm having a little trouble holding on to it.

But look at those legs.

The back legs are very tiny, too, and each one of them has two little toes on it.

And that's where it gets the name two-toed amphiuma.

And this is what they live in.

They live in these sort of weed-choked swamps and tannin-stained waters.

And unless you're using the right kind of trap, like a trash-can trap or something else, you'd never even know they live here.

♪♪ Okay, let's see what's in this one.

♪♪ ♪♪ Wow!

Some fish in this one, for sure.

Some kind of interesting fish.

So I'm going to grab my container again.

Let's see what we have here.

Here's the first one.

Oh, that's a nice-looking fish.

This one is called a redfin pickerel.

And of course, this is in the pike family.

And this is -- it's the redfin, which doesn't get very big.

But of course there's other members -- northern pike, muskellunge and some of the others -- that get quite a bit bigger.

These are kind of slippery.

I'm making sure I get my hands wet, but, boy, they are built like torpedoes.

Long and slender, very athletic.

You can see where they get the name redfin pickerel because they have those gorgeous red fins.

Now, this is a predaceous fish with a big mouth.

Look at the mouth on it.

So this can eat really big fish and can swallow stuff that's not as big as that, but... Little bigger crayfish here.

Ow!

It's a little... Good pinch there.

Here's something kind of interesting.

This is one of the predaceous diving beetles that starts as a larva and lives in the water.

It's predaceous.

Even as a -- as a beetle it's predaceous as well.

♪♪ Okay, here's a neat little fish that we haven't seen.

This looks like a mudminnow, umbra.

Yeah, and these get a little bigger than this, but not very big at all.

Here's something that's a little surprising to catch.

This is one of the fishing spiders, one of the spotted fishing spiders.

And this is an animal that's extremely predaceous.

It kind of sits on the top of the water like this.

And it can actually hang underwater and catch tadpoles and small crayfish and other spiders and pretty much anything.

So, they're very aquatic, for sure.

Not dangerous to people at all.

Okay, here's something else.

I got to reach through the crayfish.

Ow!

That's what you do when you reach in a bucket full of -- full of crayfish.

[ Laughing ] If I can extract myself from this one... Okay, there we go.

Look at this!

That's really cool.

This is a naiad, a dragonfly naiad.

Looks like maybe from one of the skimmers.

But it's the larvae of a dragonfly.

So, it's the aquatic form that lives in the water and eventually will metamorphose or change into a smallish dragonfly.

So, the jury's still out on these trash-can traps.

They're incredibly heavy.

They take a long time to make.

They're mildly effective.

But I'm still glad... I'm still glad I made them, because it's pretty cool.

And you got to keep trying things like this to see what you can -- to see what you're going to get.

So, we've had a great year filming "Coastal Kingdom" and we've had some wonderful nature experiences.

We're just glad that you guys could join us for the adventures.

Thanks for joining us on this season of "Coastal Kingdom."

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Funding for "Coastal Kingdom" is provided 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 programming like "Coastal Kingdom" for more than 40 years.

-Additional funding provided by...