- NARRATOR: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding provided by the Toyota Tundra.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Adventure-- it's what we share.

Funding also provided by Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Helping hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages get outside.

Out here, fun can't lose.

[theme music] - ANNOUNCER: Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - Bumble bees are great pollinators because bees deliberately collect pollen.

- Every time the male shows up with a stick she's so excited.

Oh my God, a stick, a stick, a stick a stick.

Very rewarding for the male.

- Ideally you want to see a tail and try to throw right in front of which way you think the fish is facing.

[plop] [theme music] - ANNOUNCER: Texas Parks & Wildlife , a television series for all outdoors.

♪ ♪ - It's just very amusing because they're so into sticks.

So the male brings the sticks to the nest and starts building the nest, and they'll, like, steal sticks from each other.

And once the nest is established and a female shows up, every time the male shows up with a stick, she's so excited.

Oh my God, a stick.

A stick, a stick, a stick.

It's very rewarding for the male.

[bird squawking] [gentle music] There they go.

I realized there was a rookery when the leaves started falling off the trees, but I knew there were a lot of great blue herons around.

They make a lot of noise even if you can't see 'em.

They sound like little grunting pigs.

[birds squawking] So of course I have to photograph 'em, right?

And I just come out here, usually early in the morning and at sunset 'cause that's the best light, and video record them because they're so weird and interesting.

[birds squawking] - It's really a cool thing to be able to see this colony of great blue heron nests here in the city of Austin, in an area where we wouldn't necessarily think that we would see these large birds nesting.

But because we're right here on the river, the habitat is right for them.

[footsteps] [bird squawking] - You hear that?

That's an adult over here somewhere.

- Yeah.

Typically when we have birds nesting, they will often have a territory that a pair defends and a single nest in that territory.

And what's really kinda cool about being able to see these great blue herons is that they're what we refer to as colonial nesters.

So they'll actually get together with a group of other of the same species, and they'll put their nest fairly close together in a group of trees.

You get to see different stages of nesting that are happening.

[birds squawking] - SUSAN: There's one we call the Big Guy 'cause he's huge.

He's on the nest on the far right.

He started his nest later than the others.

And so I've been watching him.

I've been doing a chronology of his process as he built his nest, found his mate, and now one of the chicks has hatched.

- TANIA: So I think one of the things that makes this possible is the fact that we have these really amazing urban green spaces.

[gentle music] Protecting these urban green spaces not only provides a place for us to get out and recreate, hike, walk, fish, it also provides this amazing habitat for these birds that then we get to share our urban spaces with.

[gentle music] - SUSAN: It's amazing.

They go from little puff balls, right, where you just see their little head over the edge of the nest, and then, like, within two weeks, they're like three feet tall, two feet tall.

[birds squawking] - As we're standing here right now, you'll probably hear that there's a lot of vehicles driving by.

There's the occasional airplane that's gonna be passing over.

And these are all just the background sounds of life in a city.

And I think that's one of the things that's so special about taking that time to listen for nature, to look for nature, is it gives us a break from all of that.

[birds chirping] [insects buzzing] - SUSAN: A lot of people when they don't even recognize bird calls when they hear 'em because they don't listen for 'em.

Usually they just hear the urban background noise.

But if you listen, they're usually there, and especially out here.

[birds squawking] - TANIA: It reminds us that there's a bigger world out there that we can connect into, that we can kind of check out of the day-to-day kind of constant churn of our human lives and reconnect with the nature that's around us and take a little bit of a break.

[birds chirping] [upbeat music] - LIAM QURESHI: We are in the Laguna Madre right now, just south of Corpus Christi.

We're here, and it's a beautiful morning.

There's a lot of birds, ducks flying around.

I fished a lot of the bays in Texas, and the Laguna Madre is by far the best kind of fishery you can get.

Just 'cause of how different the water is down here.

It's just such a beautiful, beautiful place.

[gentle music] - JOHN: Today, we're looking for black drum.

I'm really kinda just scanning the water.

I'm looking for tails.

Specifically, I'm looking for a real flat tail.

Drum have a really flat tail.

I'm not really seeing anything right now, but hopefully we'll see some.

- Pink is my go-to.

I'm real big on confidence, and if you're confident in it, you're gonna catch.

So that's my idea.

- LIAM: We are representing the Islander Anglers.

It's a fishing club over at A&M Corpus Christi.

- JOHN: The club is open for everyone.

It's a great opportunity, you know, to learn about fishing and I think most importantly, to make friends.

Are we taking forever, Megan?

- Yeah.

- Yeah?

- We got fish to catch.

- Ready to go.

- JOHN: We'll spread out.

We'll get on 'em quick.

[upbeat music] I've probably been fishing since I could hold a pole.

I grew up with my dad and my grandpa showing me how to do it.

You know, wading in booty deep water like this, and ideally you want to see a tail and try to throw right in front of which way you think the fish is facing.

Man, it's just addicting.

- There he is.

- I bet that's the drum.

- No, that's a red.

Really pretty red fish, look at that.

[water splashing] - Wow.

- And a nice one.

Twenty-six, 27 inch red fish.

Pretty guy.

That's a good red fish right there.

[water splashes] There he goes.

Hopefully Liam's finding something.

[deep sign] - We've seen drum here and there, but they're not tailing for too long.

He was all over it.

It seems like all the ones I'm trying to walk up on, once I get within 30 yards, they stop tailing.

So I don't know if maybe they can feel the vibration of my feet, or they're spooking off something.

But we still have plenty of time and I'm sure we're gonna make it happen.

- Pay attention, Liam.

- Pay attention.

Oh, he's got one.

That's one thing.

We're always competitive with each other.

We always try to one up one another.

- Awesome.

- Hear him?

Drumming like crazy.

Pretty black drum.

That's probably a, that may be 20 inches.

Really good looking black drum.

I'm gonna Boga real quick so we don't lose him.

Yeah, me and Liam are always competing.

Who can catch the biggest, who can catch the most.

All that.

So are me and Megan.

Megan and I are competitive too, I'll tell you that.

- Yeah.

- Oh yeah.

I'm waxing her right now, too, I might add.

- Shut your mouth.

- I might add that.

- Oh, you wait a second.

[gentle music] - There's a drum right out here.

Yep, I got 'em.

Yep.

Oh, finally.

I've been working all day for this fish.

Nice.

Good size drum, too.

[gentle music] [water splashing] Oh nice.

Got 'em on the Gulp.

Hooked right in the corner.

Perfect.

You guys can hear him drumming.

Oh, feels good.

I bet money that's bigger than John's drum, whatever he's got.

John had me pretty good at the start and I mean, I could not get bit.

I turn around, John has a fish.

Turn around, John has a fish.

I'm like, "Oh my gosh."

So yes, it is very calming and very therapeutic, but it gets times where we're thinking hard and sometimes we overthink.

And... - JOHN: She's got one.

- Oh!

- Mine's the biggest!

[upbeat music] This is bigger than both of the guys, just so y'all know.

Black Drum is probably one of the best types of fish out here.

I've tried flounder, I've tried trout, I've tried red fish.

We put 'em all together, fried 'em up.

The best way to do it.

Drum comes out on top almost every time.

It's delicious.

You can't beat it.

[gentle music] It's pretty hard not to fish out here.

When you live somewhere where the fishing is just so good, it's hard not to, you know.

- We were able to do what we came here to do, and that's just expected when you're fishing in the Laguna.

You have such a big variety of fish that you can try to target and they're so plentiful here.

[upbeat music] And that's what really I think sets the Laguna aside from all the other estuaries around.

- Maybe up here.

- NARRATOR: Jessica Beckham is on a quest... - JESSICA: I see all sorts of things flying around.

- NARRATOR: ...to catch some fuzzy flying insects.

- JESSICA: No bumblebees though.

- NARRATOR: With great bee expertise.... - JESSICA: That is a sweat bee.

- NARRATOR: ...she searches.

- I think those are so pretty.

That is not what I am trying to catch today.

[laughs] - NARRATOR: The bees that beckon are bumblebees.

- JESSICA: Today we are out here surveying bumblebees in a little roadside area of Denton County.

That is an American bumblebee right there.

- NARRATOR: Jessica has been studying bumblebees at the University of North Texas while pursuing a Ph.D.

in environmental science.

- Here in Texas, we have sweat bees, digger bees, leaf-cutter bees, resin bees, about seven to eight hundred species of bees that are native bees, including nine species of bumblebees.

[adding machine clicking] Usually when people think of bees, they think of honeybees, but honeybees are actually non-native species.

Honeybee declines have been noted in the news.

- RADIO ANNOUNCER: Back in 2005 we started hearing about a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder.

Unusual numbers of honeybees were dying off and nobody understood quite why.

- NARRATOR: In these troubling times for honeybees, Jessica wanted to understand how native bees are doing.

- I am studying native pollinators, bumblebees in particular, because native pollinators might serve as an insurance policy against these losses of honeybees.

- RADIO ANNOUNCER: Bees are critical to the food supply.

Bees pollinate cherries, apples, almonds, onions and many other crops.

They pollinate billions of dollars of crops each year.

- JESSICA: Insect pollinators in particular are responsible for about 80% of the pollination of wild flowering plants and about 75% of our agricultural plants.

Bumblebees are great pollinators because bees deliberately collect pollen and they have a lot more hair than honeybees and they move a lot of pollen from flower to flower.

I do not know what they are.

I will take about a 15-minute walk through this big patch of flowers to determine what species are here, and ultimately look at the persistence of these species in our area.

Got another one!

- NARRATOR: Studying bumblebees takes time... - Shoot!

- NARRATOR: ...and some fast reflexes.

- Dang it!

[sigh] I feel like I struck out!

[laughs] - NARRATOR: But field work is the fun part, right?

[sneeze] - JESSICA: It is hot, I mean you get chiggers and ticks.

[buzzing] Sometimes you see a bee and you don't catch it.

[laughs] Really though, it is pleasant work for me.

Now I got her.

[playful music] This is bombus pensylvanicus, which is known as the American bumblebee.

This is our most common species here in Texas but nationally, this species is declining.

And so Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has designated this a species of greatest conservation need.

You ready to go girl?

- NARRATOR: Texas Parks and Wildlife has helped fund the research, in part, through sales of conservation license plates.

- JESSICA: We have received a horned lizard license plate grant, as well as a state wildlife grant.

- NARRATOR: To understand Texas bumblebee trends, Jessica compares her surveys with specimens at the Elm Fork Natural Heritage Museum at UNT, where the bumblebee collection spans 60 years.

- JESSICA: Museum collections provide a rich resource for determining historic presence of lots of different species.

- NARRATOR: The comparisons have been encouraging.

- JESSICA: What we have found is that the current presence of bumblebees here in northeast Texas is almost identical to the historic presence.

About 85% of our roadside sites had at least one bumblebee.

- NARRATOR: Further research has examined bumblebee genetic diversity, and the kinds of urban habitats they use.

- JESSICA: I looked at eight different sites, some community gardens, an organic garden... Are any of them blooming at this point?

...some urban wild spaces as well.

We want to know what types of green spaces are good for bees and also how we can manage our greenspaces as we grow cities.

- NARRATOR: The research suggests ways we can help pollinators in public spaces, like roadsides, and even in our own backyards.

- You want to try and have flowers that are blooming all the way from about March to October here in Texas because bumblebees are active throughout that time.

And you also would do well to avoid the use of pesticides because not only are they effective in killing your pest species, but they also are bad for your pollinator species.

- NARRATOR: Jessica has completed her studies and is Dr.

Beckham now.

But her work will continue to benefit bee conservation.

- JESSICA: American bumblebee.

- NARRATOR: As if a sign of gratitude, the hundreds of bees she handled kept their stingers to themselves.

- JESSICA: I have never been stung by a bumblebee, surprisingly.

- NARRATOR: Since they help our food and flowers grow, maybe we all owe some thanks to the humble bumblebee.

- JESSICA: Yea for bumblebees.

[soft music] [traffic rumbling] [pigeon cooing] - This park is very special because it's one of the largest urban wilderness parks in the world.

It's almost 27,000 acres, and it's in the middle of a major city in Texas, El Paso.

[gentle music] - LYDIA: The mountain really does just kind of come right out of the middle of the city, and it's really like you just stepped into another world.

A lot of our visitors, that's why they come here.

They wanna get away, and they wanna feel like they've just left everything behind.

- MALE CLIMBER: You got me?

- FEMALE: Yep, I got you.

[heavy breathing] - CESAR: The mountains holds a lot of different secret places, or I would say sacred places for some people.

[gentle music] This park was created by the community.

The community back in the 1970s fought to protect the mountains and persuade the local government and the state government to purchase the land and establish Franklin Mountains State Park.

[gentle music] [footsteps on gravel] - That's kind of an interesting thing about a lot of these trails, you stay in the shade.

For the most part, people come out to Franklin Mountains State Park for the trails.

- So we're out here hiking the Aztec Cave Trail, which is about a mile and a half getting to the top.

- Hiking is one of my lifelines.

I love it.

It helps me to clear my mind and I can meditate.

[birds chirping] - Breathtaking views of El Paso.

Where else could you hike and see two countries and three states?

Yeah, you would be hard pressed to find any place that matches this, any place in the world.

If you look from the road actually, it looks like a small opening, but it actually opens up to a very large cave.

- LYDIA: You can see the whole valley below us.

There's a lotta different tours that we offer each month.

Some of them, like the one to Aztec Cave... but sometimes, we'll also do tours to our mines.

With the mines, you're crawling down in these small spaces and getting to explore this old mine shaft.

[upbeat music] - BIKER: Woo.

Go, go, go, go.

- We've got over a hundred miles worth of trails.

So you can ride all day and you will never ride the same trail.

You can get to some of the trails right from a parking lot, so you don't have to even go very far.

You just basically ride off your car and ride a nice, smooth trail as a beginner.

Or you can hit some of the more technical stuff and go all the way to the top.

- BIKER: Push it, push it, all right.

Good job.

Whoo!

[hawk calls] [cycle rumbles] - Whoa!

[cycle rumbles] [hawk calls] [cyclists chattering] - Go, go, go, go.

You got it, you got it!

[riders encouraging] - Awesome job!

- You can ride with groups.

You can ride solo, and you've got this whole mountain behind you that you can ride all the way around if you want to.

[bikers chattering] - It was good.

It was good.

- LYDIA: What's nice about our campsites is it's an easy weekend getaway.

[cyclists chattering and laughing] - Nice.

- LYDIA: We're about 15 minutes away from the nearest big store.

- Get this party started now.

[gentle music] These mountains are challenging, but they're also so rewarding.

Watching that sunrise.

Every moment, the colors change, every shadow on the mountain is changing, and it almost makes it like it's a new trail every single time.

- We have so many people that come here to heal.

Natural therapy.

They're not only doing exercise, but their mind is getting clearer.

- You could have the worst day ever, and you come out and you're not feeling it, and by the time you're done, you feel like you could do anything.

You can conquer the world.

[inspirational music] - Here we have fresh air.

You breathe, you feel alive, and then you re-energize... - Woo.

- every time that you come to these mountains.

[inspirational music] [upbeat music] ♪ ♪ - Whoooo!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [birds chirping] - NARRATOR: Next time on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - When I first met them, they were talking about how hard it is to get out of a parking lot in some of these natural spaces.

- We want to create a roadmap for how people can build nature back into their neighborhoods.

- The hide, the horns, preserving the memories, preserving that beauty so that we get to see it all the time.

- NARRATOR: That's next time on Texas Parks & Wildlife.

[wind blowing] [crickets chirping] [crickets chirping] [crickets chirping] [crickets chirping] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [crickets chirping] [crickets chirping] [crickets chirping] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [birds squawking] [crickets chirping] [birds calling] - NARRATOR: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding provided by the Toyota Tundra.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Adventure-- it's what we share.

Funding also provided by Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Helping hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages get outside.

Out here, fun can't lose.