(film spinning) (upbeat music) - When I became host of Georgia Outdoors, I quickly learned that my best resource would be the knowledge, a biologist.

My first show was "Herons and Heroes," and I worked with biologist, Brad Wynn, who turned me on to wading birds.

I had no idea what they were.

(birds chirping) We begin in a rookery, a place where birds gather to find a mate and raise their young.

The almost deafening noise comes from adults looking for a partner.

(birds chirping) And chicks begging for attention.

(birds chirping) Think of this as an apartment complex of sorts.

(upbeat music) There's the pregnant lady on Branch 3A, the tri-colored heron picks at her nest like a mother to be preparing a nursery.

She rolls her eggs around to keep membranes from sticking to the shell and distribute the heat.

She settles down, but it doesn't feel quite right.

(upbeat music) She does this often as she waits patiently for her chicks.

(upbeat music) The video of that heron pecking on her eggs is adorable.

We could hear her pecking, but the camera was too far away for the microphone to pick up the sound, so we improvised.

(tapping) That's what you have to do sometimes.

Now I want you to meet Brad Wynn.

(upbeat music) Biologist Brad Wynn has spent a lifetime studying these birds.

It is more than a job, it is a mission.

He believes the only way to protect them is to get us to understand their connection to these wetlands.

- [Brad] So I just wanted to stop in here and show you some of the fish that these birds have been feeding on.

- Are you sure the alligators aren't gonna get us?

- No, but I'm bigger than you are, so you'd be the bait.

- Thanks.

This is the Butler Wildlife Refuge near Darien, which lies between Savannah and Jekyll Island.

From afar, the refuge may look like a flat, muddy, overgrown piece of land.

You have to get up close to see the diversity of life.

- [Brad] So this is the richness of a wetland, and this is what the wetlands produce, and you can imagine, when this water dries down, hundreds of thousands and millions of these fish concentrated in a pool and you don't want to get bitten by this guy.

These little diving beetles are quite nasty.

- Oh, good to know.

- Well, it rained last night- - What about this beetle, does he bite?

- No.

- Okay, all right.

Ow, yes, he does.

- He does?

I didn't know he bit.

Really, he got you?

- Yay, biologists.

(laughing) - Did you get all that?

- That was a defining moment in my relationship with Brad.

I started to call him Bug Boy and shortened it to BB.

He started calling me Bug Bait and shortened it to BB.

So it would go like this, I'd send him an email, "Hey BB, how you doing?"

He would write back, "Hey, BB, good to hear from you."

We worked on several shows together, but then he moved to Massachusetts and we never got to do the one show we really wanted to do, which was to tell the story of these birds who make incredible migrations.

Well, I went on vacation to Cape Cod and I thought, "We could do this."

So I called him and I said, "Hey, BB, let's get this thing done."

(upbeat music) Whimbrels on the Atlantic have been in decline for about the last 20 years.

Georgia and Massachusetts are what scientists call staging areas for whimbrels.

A staging area is simply a place they hang out to rest and eat.

(upbeat music) Fiddler crabs in the marshes of both states are a favorite food source.

(upbeat music) They use that curved bill to snatch and swallow entire crabs.

(upbeat music) - [Brad] So these birds are feeding, building up fat, building up muscle for flight.

So the fat is the fuel and the heavy muscles they have, they build up in a short period of time, are to take them through these long distances.

We have seen them avoid storms, and we've also seen them go right in the middle of hurricanes at the same time.

So they... Yeah, and somehow they...

The ones we've been tracking seem to always know where they are in the ocean.

Can you imagine going into the middle of a hurricane and still... And then kind of getting blasted out the backside of the hurricane and knowing where on the planet you really are enough to keep orienting toward land or a destination you know about.

It's really extraordinary, and the fact that we don't know, we have ideas of how they're doing it, but we don't know, especially these juvenile birds.

How the heck are these... What's going through their little heads?

They're flying night and day over the ocean.

I mean, it's really quite extraordinary.

(upbeat music) - [Sharon] It has been three days of watching and waiting.

Finally, a whimbrel steps in the right place.

(upbeat music) Someone always has eyes on that trap, so the bird is immediately rescued.

Let me stop it right there.

Biologists worked so hard.

They set that line I can't tell you how many times, sat and waited in the sun for it to snare a whimbrel.

They just do the same thing over and over, and over again, because they so want to know about the species they're studying, and they're not getting rich doing it.

Wing measurement?

- [Brad] I'd say, 226.

- [Sharon] 226?

- Yeah, I'm just confirming that this is indeed a juvenile bird, so that's what we want.

- [Sharon] Alen holds the bird, I take the notes, but Brad has the tedious job of getting a $3,500 solar charged transmitter securely on the back of this whimbrel.

Brad quickly carries the bird in a bag for a true test to see if she's really moving okay.

So, Brad, you're just trying to figure out how the bird is moving in there before you let it go?

- Yeah, exactly.

I want to make sure the legs are okay and that it's looking alert, and so when we release it, it will go.

- [Sharon] All right, three, two, one.

(upbeat music) She walks out like a runway model, no rush, no stress, just a little tail shake.

In a moment, I'll show you where she ends up.

It is hard to believe.

- But it's interesting, the adults migrate first through here.

So the adults are here in July and August and there might be a few around still, but by now in September, all of the adults that are, kind of, the professional whimbrels have already gone.

So these younger birds are kind of figuring things out.

So we want to be able to figure that out, figure out what they're figuring out at the same time.

- How they know instinctively to go across the ocean.

- Yeah, yeah, that one's a big one, and that's gonna be many years before anybody really figures that out, how they can navigate hurricanes, how they can navigate across open ocean for five, or six, or seven days flying nonstop.

It's really pretty extraordinary for anything, so, yeah.

- My trip was worth it.

- Yeah, very good.

I'm so happy.

- [Sharon] They named her Sachem.

It means "leader of tribes."

Less than two weeks after capture, Sachem headed out to sea.

Look at her path, flying at about 30 miles per hour, she slid past Bermuda, stayed east of Hurricane Maria, went through the Caribbean, and as I write this story, Sachem is hanging out in Venezuela.

She flew nonstop four days and around 2,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.

No adult bird taught her what to do.

I've probably had Brad on my show more than anyone, but the next biologist you're gonna meet took me on the craziest mountain hike I've ever been on.

There is another treasure in the mountains.

While we tend to think of wetlands in the low land, they do exist up here.

They are called mountain bogs, but it is doubtful you would ever find one on your own.

Every time you come up to a mountain bog, the colors are a little different.

- They're spectacular.

- [Sharon] Mincy Moffett, a botanist with the Department of Natural Resources has promised to guide me to great beauty and vivid flowers.

- [Mincy] You can walk around or you can walk through it.

I've done both.

I'm tired of trying to walk around because I always fall in the mud and get about as wet.

- Well- - But you can watch me and see whether or not you want to do it.

- [Sharon] This should have been my first warning.

I guess I'm just gonna walk right through.

Mincy insist it will be gorgeous and we don't have far to go.

Mincy, you didn't tell me to bring boots, dude.

- I didn't?

I told you there was muck.

- Yeah, but you didn't say I was gonna walk through water and mud all at the same time.

- Oh, wait a minute now, come on.

- [Sharon] With tennis shoes soaked and a chill in the air, I follow Mincy to my first mountain bog.

Where's the beauty of the bog I keep hearing about?

- [Mincy] Are you saying this is not beauteous?

- I'm not feeling the beauty yet.

- All right, we're dealing with a neophyte.

Is there another way to get around?

I think this is too deep for them to... - [Sharon] We come to a crossroads of sorts.

There doesn't appear to be any way through here except to venture into deeper mud.

(upbeat music) (screaming) - There you go.

- Mincy, what have you gotten me into?

This is not beautiful mountain bog.

Where are my flowers?

- It's beautiful mucky mountain bog.

(laughing) - I want champagne at this point.

(laughing) It gets worse.

- But this is real bog.

- And as you were telling me, we have had more rain this year than... - Yep, in fact, I'm gonna go on all fours to get through here, spread my weight a little better because this is crazy.

- Okay.

(upbeat music) Okay.

- [Mincy] She's gonna start cheating, I know.

(laughing) Do you want someone to take your bag?

(upbeat music) - No, this is a mission now.

Now I'm irritated.

I have bog irritation.

As other plant ecologists look on, Mincy and I plunge through the equivalent of wet concrete.

I think Mincy had the right idea.

I'm just gonna have to crawl.

Okay, well, glad I dressed up.

Mincy is quite the character and I hope to work with him again.

I made him a promise that I make to many biologists that may surprise you.

I would never tell anyone where that mountain bog is, why?

Because there are plant poachers, seriously.

People who would go up and dig those plants up, try to plant them in their backyard, where they would quickly die.

So I don't reveal often where we are.

Now I want you to meet Terry Norton, another special guy.

The first time I met Terry Norton, he was trying to save Lucy, a female loggerhead who was struck by a boat propeller during nesting season.

(upbeat music) (water splashing) - One, two, three.

(upbeat music) - Terry is founder and director of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

I spent several days with him and he was so serious.

I rarely saw him smile, but we ended up in laughter.

(birds chirping) On Georgia's barrier islands, Terry is recognized as more than just the turtle guy.

We met at the boat dock for a trip to St. Catherines Island.

(upbeat music) It's time to give the ring-tailed lemurs who live on St. Catherines their annual exams.

I know you come over here on a regular basis for the lemurs, are there other islands... Oh, here comes your first patient.

- Yep.

- Do you know who you have?

- [Sharon] We have to wear masks for these exams to protect both the primates and us from any possible disease exchange.

The lemurs arrive in nets and their faces are immediately placed in little gas masks because there is no way you could do what Terry is about to do with an active primate.

(upbeat music) Their eyes are lubricated, so they won't dry out.

(upbeat music) And they undergo the same indignities the rest of us do in the doctor's office.

Lemurs also have scent glands that they use to mark territory or declare dominance.

They rub their tails on that gland and throw the smell.

Keep that smell in mind.

On a second day of lemur exams, Terry shows the dry sense of humor he's known for.

- I'm gonna look at the ears, then the scent glands.

So that's hormone secretion.

- Ow.

Oh, man, that is a big smear.

- It's the initiation.

- [Man] You have to go through it.

- Earthy.

(laughing) Earthy, Can you smell me?

- Yeah, you stink.

- I can smell this through the mask.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Do you want some more?

(laughing) (water running) - [Sharon] His serious manner hides the fact that Terry is shy, humble, and quite the prankster.

- [Terry] Yeah, a lot of times it's more subtle.

It's a dry sense of humor and it's at times when there's... A long day and you just can't be serious anymore, and so... And it's when you're comfortable with people.

- Is there anything you don't work on?

- Humans.

(laughing) - I try to spend a lot of time with the biologists I'm working with because I want you to see more than just their scientific side.

I want you to see a little bit of their personalities, and I also want them to know this is just not a one question interview, and, you know, I really care about what they're doing.

Terry is a great guy, but you're about to meet another great guy, Mark Dodd, who gave me one of the most magical moments of my career.

(upbeat music) Scientists call her a caretta caretta, and this is her destiny.

She is driven from the water by instinct.

(upbeat music) To show you these amazing reptiles, we teamed up with biologist Mark Dodd, who heads the sea turtle program for the Department of Natural Resources.

It was decided that Ossabaw Island would give us the best shot to actually capture video of a nesting loggerhead.

So why Ossabaw?

- Well, we came to Ossabaw because it's one of our three main loggerhead nesting beaches.

Those include Cumberland, Ossabaw, and Black Beard.

So, for one reason, it's a place where we know we're gonna have a lot of turtle nesting.

It's also a place where there's no development and turtles have been doing their thing at night, completely undisturbed since the beginning of time.

- [Sharon] We spend hours riding up and down the beach, hoping to see a nesting loggerhead.

So, I'm just looking for a little hump, right?

- Yeah, you're looking for something big coming out of the water and I'm gonna just survey looking forward down the beach.

- [Sharon] One night we searched the beach from eight o'clock at night until six o'clock the next morning, no turtles.

No crawls.

- No luck so far.

- [Sharon] Then a week later we see crawl tracks, follow them, and there she is.

Mark makes a rare exception and allows us to use light to capture this video because of its value as an educational tool.

Our girl doesn't seem to mind at all.

She uses those back flippers like a hand, digging down as far as she can, pulling out sand, then casting it away.

She will create a pit deep enough to hold an average of 100 eggs or more.

While she's preoccupied, we are able to belly up beside her.

(turtle growling) Is this a a Georgia turtle?

- [Mark] So, yeah, it is.

It's a Georgia turtle, and, you know, Georgia loggerheads have a pretty fantastic natural history and it starts and ends right here on a Georgia beach.

So, you know, we're on Ossabaw Island, it's mid July, and this is a turtle that probably hatched from an egg, either on this island or on a nearby island.

- [Sharon] She is not extremely large for a loggerhead, but they don't become sexually mature until the age of 30 or 35 years.

So we know she's been out in the ocean for a long time.

(upbeat music) This may well be her first nest.

(sand brushing) (upbeat music) The eggs are like rubbery, ping pong balls.

As they begin to pile up, you realize what a miracle of nature this is.

(upbeat music) Within the next month, she will dig on average four more nests and lay about 100 eggs every time.

Does she know we're here?

- [Mark] She probably knows we're here, but she's so committed to finishing that she's gonna complete the nest regardless of our presence, and so she's... And what she's doing now is she's just finishing up trying to camouflage the nest.

So obviously she's throwing a lot of sand in our face and using her front flippers and her back flippers to throw sand around, to try to camouflage the nest so predators won't be able to find it and dig up the eggs and eat 'em.

(upbeat music) - [Sharon] We don't move until she does.

(upbeat music) And then we follow her out to see.

(upbeat music) She stops often to rest.

She's hauling the equivalent weight of a refrigerator across the sand using only her flippers.

I can't tell you how many trips we made to the coast to get that video, and every time we went, Mark had to leave his family to be with us.

We stayed with a couple who monitor the turtle nests in their little cottage.

I slept in the guest room.

Mark slept on the floor in the living room in a sleeping bag.

He just so wants you to see those images in hopes that you'll care as much as he does, typical biologist.

Well, we had to go back a couple of months later to get the cutest things ever, the hatchlings.

Shortly before sun breaks the next morning, we get a chance to see why all of this is worth the effort.

(upbeat music) Here they come, tiny little packages of pure instinct, programmed to move forward like the Energizer Bunny.

(upbeat music) One by one, they make their way toward the ocean.

(upbeat music) Even the smallest thing can be an obstacle.

(upbeat music) Yet they keep going as if nothing else matters, and that is true, nothing else does matter.

(upbeat music) Their only chance of survival is to make it to the ocean.

On my belly next to a loggerhead turtle as she lays her eggs, it doesn't get much better than that.

The loggerhead show took a lot of time and research, but Mark had my back the entire way.

In fact, every biologist I've worked with has had my back.

I'm Sharon Collins.

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat music)