-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... ♪♪ ♪♪ -Historically, there would have been 93 million acres of longleaf pine habitat in the southeastern United States.

Today, there's probably less than 5% of that.

But there's still some things we can do.

And you can see I'm out in this recently burned spot and I'm planting longleaf pine trees like these little container grown ones right here.

It creates really good quality habitat for different types of plants and animals.

Now, a lot of these big trees behind me are loblollies.

But you can see not only some little guys, but there's some longleaf we planted a few years ago that look like they're doing really well.

It's hard to imagine that this little grass-stage longleaf one day might grow into a 90-foot tree.

So in this episode, we're going to look at how really good land management practices help to protect forests like this and the animals that live in them.

♪♪ ♪♪ So look at that little guy.

Okay, we got something big on.

There we go.

We've got the bird, and there's already a chick in there.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ So today we get to get out in the field with Dr.

Stephen Clements and Abby Luna, and they're biologists with Nemours Wildlife Foundation.

And we're going to talk about wood ducks and other waterfowl.

-Yeah, we're going to get some wood duck boxes installed so that our ducks have places to nest this spring.

-Stephen, why is it important to build wood duck boxes and install them?

-Wood ducks have historically had population declines.

Now they're doing well, but in large part because of these wood duck boxes.

So if we think historically there was a lot of deforestation in the southeast, and because wood ducks nest in natural cavities, when we cut down a lot of those hardwood trees and things, there wasn't as many natural cavities on the landscape for birds to use.

-So what other sorts of research do you guys do here at Nemours Wildlife Foundation?

I know it's 10,000 acres.

It's a huge place.

So what other sorts of things do you guys do?

-Yeah, we do all kind of things.

A lot of it's possible because we work with other universities in the area and have graduate students come out and do different projects.

So we have some students working on alligators, monitoring amphibians and reptiles across the property, and then also doing some other cool waterfowl work, like drone surveys for waterfowl.

-And, Abby, what do -- So, what is your favorite group to work with here?

-I'm a really big fan of the birds, so I'm very excited to get to work with the ducks and the red-cockaded woodpeckers, but all the amphibians and snakes are going to be totally new to me.

So I'm hoping to get my hands on some of those too.

-So my favorite group of animals is reptiles and amphibians.

I mean, that's what I get most excited about.

I like birds too, but I really like reptiles and amphibians.

So what what is the plan?

Right?

We're at the spot.

So what are we going to do here?

-Here, over the last couple of weeks, what we've been doing, we've already had a lot of nest boxes out on the property.

But what we want to do is try to put some of them in better locations, boxes that haven't been getting a lot of use.

We're moving some around, and also there's some other wetlands that have changed over time that we think would really be good places for wood duck boxes now.

♪♪ -So the next thing that we got to put on is our predator guard.

-What's the number-one predator?

-Probably rat snakes.

-Rat snakes and raccoons.

-Tell me about why this is a good nesting box.

-Yeah.

So there are a lot of different designs for what makes a good wood duck box.

But there are a couple kind of main things that we want to be aware of.

One, we want to make the inside -- make sure that it's big enough for a female wood duck to be in there.

We want her to have plenty of room.

We want to have a nice door on the side so that you can go in there and check it.

You can clean it out after the nesting season and put new wood shavings in at the beginning of the season.

We want to have a hole in the front that's big enough for our ducks to fly in and out.

Usually about four inches wide is pretty good.

And then a nice roof that overhangs to keep the rain from getting into the box.

Those are kind of big things that we're looking for when we're designing a wood duck box.

-Well, this one, from carrying it over here, I realized it's very well put together.

That is a substantial box to say the least.

-Yeah.

-I think it's going to last a long time.

-Yeah.

This box is likely made out of cypress, and I'm not exactly sure how old it is, but it was still in really good shape when we took it down from another location that wasn't really productive.

We weren't seeing a lot of nesting activity in there, so we decided to move this one over.

-Awesome.

♪♪ -Just want to try to make it nice and even.

[ Drill whirring ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -So why this spot?

You know, I've heard people say they need to be in a very specific spot next to the wetland.

So why here?

-Yeah.

The biggest reason for putting them near the wetland is so the wood ducks can find them.

-But they don't have to be in the water, do they?

-They don't, no.

They can be over land.

And like I said, you know, sometimes wood ducks will nest in cavities really hundreds of yards from water.

And they'll bring the ducklings to the water from there.

-So if somebody has some good habitat on their land or near their house or something, is it okay for them to put up a wood duck box?

-Yes, definitely.

-So what do they need to be careful of though, when they do it?

-When you're thinking about, you know, farm ponds and things like that, the one thing I would be concerned about there is if it is a super-wide, open pond without a lot of emergent vegetation or anything.

That's not going to give the ducklings really anywhere to hide.

And then on top of that, if you do have a pond with a lot of big bass or something in it... -Oh, yeah.

-...bass can be, uh -- -People would never believe that, right?

That a bass could eat a duckling, but absolutely right.

They can be a major predator.

-Yeah.

And if you want to put one of these up on your property, there are a lot of resources available online for you.

If you go to South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Ducks Unlimited, or even the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, they all have plans up there for how to build and install your own wood duck box, and they'll give you tips about where to put them.

-Great.

-We've got one last step, and that's to put the cedar shavings in there.

-Okay.

And that's providing bedding material just for the eggs to sit in, right?

-Right.

So unlike other birds, ducks do not really build a nest or wood ducks don't build a nest.

They're not going to bring in nesting material.

They will use some of their own feathers to kind of help cover the eggs and keep -- -Make a nice, soft little bed for the eggs.

Right.

Yes.

-And then we also just kind of flatten it out, push it to the corners, make sure it fills up all the space in that box.

-Make it look inviting.

-Yeah.

-Just one last thing I want to do is trim off some of these branches that kind of overhang the box a little or near the box.

And that'll keep things like rat snakes from being able to reach over to the to the box and get in.

-Okay, so I'm going to make sure I don't do anything wrong here.

I'm going to shut this and lock it.

I guess this keeps predators out, right?

And so you guys have some nests that you've already checked, right?

-Yeah.

We've got some active nests on the property that we're going to go check out.

-Alright.

Let's go do that.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ So, Abby, we flushed that female.

So we assume that there might be something in this box, right?

-Yeah.

So the fact that the female was in there and she flew out as soon as she heard us getting close means that she's probably got some eggs.

-Okay, let's check it out.

-Oh, yeah.

She's got a pile of eggs in here.

-So what is clutch size usually?

-On average it's normally about 10 to 12 eggs.

But there is something called dump nesting.

And that's where basically other females will find a nest and go lay some of their eggs in another hen's nest.

And it's pretty obvious that that's what's going on here.

-Oh, so -- -There's actually about 20 eggs in here.

-Oh, wow.

So that -- you think that's for sure two nests?

-Correct.

Yes.

-What are you guys trying to figure out about wood ducks?

What data are you collecting?

-The main thing that we're doing here on the property is just monitoring the amount of production that we have from the wood duck boxes.

So that's why we come out here and check them periodically and see which ones are active.

-And so -- And there's a strong stewardship component to this too, right?

I mean, you're providing habitat.

-Correct.

Yes.

Yeah.

-Man, that's a lot of eggs.

I'm about to fall in the pond, so I'm being careful that I... I bet it is about 20.

So, guys, I love this project.

I mean, not only are you collecting important data on wood ducks and other waterfowl, but you're also providing really good habitat for these birds.

-Yeah.

We appreciate you coming out and thanks for toting that heavy wood duck box for us too.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Flames crackling ] -So, guys, you can actually hear the crackling of flames behind us because we're about to start a prescribed burn here.

In fact, the fire's already started and it's moving this way.

But I just wanted to talk a little bit about why burns are important.

People used to call these controlled burns, but prescribed fire is a better way of looking at it.

So this is a habitat that we want to manage.

What we want it to do is to be really nice longleaf pine forest.

Right now this is a field.

But if you look right here, there is actually a longleaf pine.

And so this is one that we planted some time ago.

And it'll do just fine if we burn this.

In fact burns are essential.

I mean, they're really, really important for certain habitats.

So we have some undesirable species in here, like sweetgums and things like that.

Burns will help to knock those back and give the longleaf pine and some of the other wonderful grasses and things that are in here, a chance to kind of flourish.

What we want is an open canopy, eventually some big trees and then lots of grasses in here because these warm-season grasses are good for insects, they're good for small mammals, they're good for reptiles and amphibians and birds.

So this is improving the habitat.

It seems kind of strange, doesn't it?

Because you're burning it and that seems so destructive.

But what you're doing is just burning off the surface layer.

Now I actually hear the crackling of flames behind me.

So I think the best bet is for us to move our vehicle and get out of the way.

And then we're going to come back here after the fire has already come through.

And we're going to take a good look at it.

♪♪ ♪♪ So you can see this is relatively low-intensity fire.

And that's what we want.

It's kind of going against the wind.

It's just kind of creeping along.

And what we want to do is protect the little longleaf and some of the trees and stuff like that.

To be clear, this is a big job.

It's not like you can just go out and set the woods on fire yourself.

I mean, there are all kinds of regulations associated with this.

You have to be certified to burn.

And in the case right here, I mean, I'm the one talking, but there's a big crew who's out here and they're watching the lines and they're trying to make sure that this fire stays exactly where we want it.

So it looks like this is doing really, really well.

♪♪ ♪♪ So the fire is past the tree line and it's coming across our little longleaf spot.

I'm going to get out of the way.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ So, guys, the fire burned through.

You can see our little longleaf survived, along with lots of other ones here.

You know what I think is really impressive?

You can just kind of rake up the soil.

And of course there's some ash on the surface, but underneath it's cool.

It's still kind of moist.

So that fire just kind of came across the surface.

Although it did some damage to this longleaf, it looks like if you look down inside it, the important part is right down in here and this little bud, little apical meristem is what needs to be protected.

And that's what -- If that burns up, it's a problem.

But this one looks like it's in really good shape.

So I think this little tree is going to do just fine.

It looks devastating.

But I'll tell you what's really, really neat about this.

If we get some rain and just a couple of months of warm weather, this is going to turn bright green again.

And it's going to be better habitat with early successional grasses, a lot more sunlight getting to the ground and just a better place for insects, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians and all kinds of animals.

♪♪ Hey, guys, we're on our way to a "Coastal Kingdom" shoot.

And just coming down this dirt road and look what's here.

She's taking off now.

But look at this.

So this is a softshell turtle.

And right away, I can tell it's a female because of how big it is.

Males are quite a bit smaller than females.

But man, when you talk about form and function of an animal, here's one that has a very long neck.

And look at that cool snorkel on the end of the nose.

I mean, that's obviously for breathing.

Softshelled turtle because look at this flexible shell.

So they don't have a hard shell like other species of turtles do.

And you can also tell they're amazingly aquatic.

I mean, the webbed feet are something else.

You can see this looks like loose skin, but that's big webbed feet.

So they're fast swimmers, incredibly aquatic.

And as I said, they can reach their neck all the way up about this high, stay buried in the mud and then use that little snorkel to get a breath.

Let's pick this one up and have a look at it.

Now, these have impressive claws.

Whoa.

And you see she is strong and you can see those back feet that are used for swimming.

I mean, they are -- they are amazing creatures.

Look how long the neck is.

So super-long neck.

Beautiful eyes.

Anyway, now, why is she up here?

Well, she's crossing the road.

My guess is she's going up somewhere to lay her eggs.

These are incredibly aquatic, but they have to lay their eggs on land, and they use these back feet, which are perfect for digging out a flash-shaped hole almost like a sea turtle does on a smaller scale, and then laying the eggs in it.

And the eggs look like ping-pong balls.

And she may lay 20, 30, 40, maybe even more.

Anyway, softshell turtle and this particular one is called a Florida softshell.

We have another one called a spiny softshell.

But this is the bigger of the two.

Okay, so I think we'll let her get on her way.

She obviously knows where she's going and she's going to go lay eggs, so I'll leave her right here.

♪♪ Today I get to get out in the field with two of my good friends, Dr.

Andrew Bridges and his son Forest.

And so what we're going to be doing today is sampling fish.

And so first of all, why do we want to sample fish?

-Well, so we're -- In Nemours, we're a wildlife research and education and land stewardship foundation.

And so as part of our science, we need to know what species are present and to inform our management.

We need to know if we're doing the right things, if the biodiversity that we're trying to promote is actually occurring.

-And obviously, there are different ways we can do this.

You guys -- I mean, we've used traps and all kinds of things here at Nemours to catch things, nets and things like that.

But today we're going with a little more primitive method for catching things, and I see you guys have adopted this old-fashioned cane pole.

-Made out of bamboo.

-Made out of bamboo.

Mine is not bamboo.

Mine is a much stealthier version.

I don't think it's metal, but maybe fiberglass.

So this is a little sleeker, but we'll -- maybe we can compare the two and see which one is the best method.

-We're going old school.

♪♪ -You guys getting any bites?

-Not really.

No.

I'm sort of surprised honestly.

I thought we would have had a -- -I'm getting good bites here.

-Are you getting bites?

-Yeah.

-Oh, Forest, pull up, pull up, pull up.

-Alright.

So definitely a sunfish.

It looks like a bluegill.

Andrew, I imagine there's lots of sunfish species in these little impoundments, right?

-There are.

We have a tremendous number of species of sunfish.

We have bass, we have catfish, we even have crappie.

-And the other thing is you can tell by fish species, this -- it's -- this is fresh water.

Of course, we knew that going in, but this is a freshwater species that wouldn't do well with a lot of salinity.

You want to hold that one out for us?

Alright.

So one species down.

Bluegill.

-And me and Daddy caught it.

I caught the first fish.

-That's right.

Daddy and Forest caught the first fish.

But it's not a competition.

-Alright, that's fine, that's fine.

-Say goodbye to the bluegill.

-Okay.

I'm going to get serious.

Here's one.

Uh-oh.

It got off and now I'm hung on something.

-Got a vinefish.

-Get nowhere fishing for vine.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -Okay, here we go.

Look at that, Forest.

-Oh!

-Yeah.

Green sunfish, so another one of those -- one of those sunfish that -- And notice this is a little different build.

Hey, Forest, look at -- look at how much it's shaped differently, isn't it?

It's not shaped quite like that other one is.

Should we pop this hook out?

I think we can do it.

There we go.

Look at that.

Came right out.

There's one that's even -- gets an even bigger mouth, a warmouth, but yeah, that's a pretty animal.

-Goodbye.

-So, Andrew, where is this?

So obviously there's a lot of water pouring out of here from this impoundment.

So where's it going?

-So this is one of the major arteries that drains northern Beaufort County.

It runs right through here.

So this is mostly freshwater that's coming downstream from the northern part of the county, and eventually it'll wind up in Wimbee Creek and eventually in the Combahee River.

But this is a water control structure.

It's how we manage this freshwater impoundment behind us, and then a brackish water impoundment on this side.

-And that's one of your challenges here, right, is managing water.

And you use rice trunks like this and various water control structures.

I guess mostly rice trunks, right?

-Absolutely.

Yeah.

These rice trunks are a primary water control structure that we use here.

These were very important again when we had Tropical Storm Debby just a few months ago.

This was all underwater.

And so all the water from northern Beaufort County was coming through here.

-So these are essential because if you don't manage this water, it's going to flood fields and stuff like that.

So this is a really nice system of impoundments and dikes and canals and all kinds of things to manage that water.

-Oh, you got a fish?

-Actually looks like another bluegill, doesn't it?

-Another?

-Boy, this is excellent fishing.

And all these fish, all these sunfish are extremely variable.

♪♪ ♪♪ It's another sunfish.

Looks like a green sunfish.

-Goodbye.

♪♪ -That's a bluegill.

Yep.

So another bluegill.

You know, look at those spines.

So a lot of these sunfish have those really sharp vertical spines on them.

And that's of course to protect them from things like largemouth bass and bowfin and other bigger predacious fish.

♪♪ Guys, look what this is.

I just saw a flash of red, maybe a bluegill in breeding color.

So a lot of times during the breeding season, fish will kind of color up.

but I was kind of hoping for a red breast there, but still fabulous fish.

And it's good to see so much color.

So this is one of the catfish.

This looks like one of the bullheads, but I am not exactly sure which one it is.

This is one we'll have to look up.

It doesn't look quite like a brown bullhead to me.

Can you hear it?

[ Fish grunting ] Kind of make it a little bit of a grunt noise.

So we want to get this one right.

So you're thinking maybe white catfish.

-It's a white catfish.

-So yeah, they're very -- It's very channel catfish looking but not quite.

It does look more like the white catfish, doesn't it?

And you're talking about the indentation in the caudal fin there.

-Exactly.

So the tail is less forked and it has fewer spots than a channel catfish.

And then you can actually count the rays, each one of those rays.

-Which are probably very close to the other one.

-They're similar, but the channel has slightly more.

-Okay.

Well, this is one that will -- That's good to look it up.

As you said earlier, there's -- some of this water can have a little bit of salinity in it, which is characteristic of this species too.

-Absolutely.

-So, Forest, what do you think?

What do you think that is?

-A redear.

-I think it's a redear sunfish.

I think you're exactly right.

Boy, that is beautiful, isn't it?

Look at that.

Look at that nice red pattern right there.

And look how small the mouth is compared to the... -Other one.

-Well, so we're up to three different types of sunfish already, which is pretty good.

-This is the best spot.

-So what do you think?

Let's look at this one.

-Ah.

Sorry, sorry.

-You know, I set my line down a little bit deeper.

And I think that's why we're getting the species that live on the bottom.

-Dad, can you set your line down there?

-[ Laughs ] ♪♪ So we just moved down the road just a little bit to another one of these water control structures because this looks like a pretty good spot.

Okay, guys, we got a nice little fish on here.

Oh, it looks like... Let's see if I can lift this carefully.

-Oh, it's a crappie.

-It sure is.

There's a crappie.

I'm going to see if I can get it because they have really delicate mouths.

But look at this.

The mouth, very different shape.

And look at the wonderful spots on it.

You want to carefully hold it for us?

-Yeah.

Oh, it's spiny.

-Yeah.

Watch those spines.

So, guys, it looks like we've caught all the fish in this hole.

So another green sunfish.

So that's pretty good.

Lots of sunfish species.

But what's really cool is not only did we catch tons of fish, a lot of bluegill, but we also got a lot of different species.

And that diversity is really important.

So these are ones that we can add to the list for sure.

-Absolutely.

-So, guys, that was -- that was really fun.

I appreciate you inviting me out to Nemours to catch fish like this.

-Well, thank you for coming.

We had a great time.

♪♪ -In this episode, we've looked at how land is managed.

And in many cases, we talked about huge tracts of land.

But you know what?

You don't have to have a big place for it to be important for wildlife.

And this is a great example.

This is your yard.

And I'm just surrounded by Trillium, a native species.

I've got buckeye right here.

The trees are all native.

And you notice this is not a lawn.

It's lots of leaves on the ground.

This is a really good spot.

In fact, around the corner there's a water feature that's good for attracting birds.

So there's a lot of animals that can live here.

And whether you have a quarter acre or a thousand acres, there's lots of ways to be good stewards of the land.

Thanks for joining us on "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...