- ANNOUNCER: 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 is provided by Toyota.

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

Toyota -- Let's Go Places.

- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife... [crowd cheering] - It may be a little bit of a pride thing when you get to Cottonseed.

That's got to be the hottest spot in the whole race, and you don't want to mess up!

- Here they come.

- Our strategy is basically keep our energy up through the whole race so that we can finish.

- When they capture their prey, they pull it down and bite at their neck to then paralyze their prey.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: Texas Parks and Wildlife, a television series for all outdoors.

[rushing water] [whistle] - NARRATOR: The Texas Water Safari... a race for warriors.

- You know parts of the river have been pressure washed, and it's just like a highway, like driving down I-35.

But then, you know, you get to a spot that's completely junked up and jammed up.

- NARRATOR: A race to reconnect.

- The partnership and the love that you feel, you know, going through this, it's just amazing.

- It's rewarding and ridiculous all at the same time!

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: It's just past six on a typical Tuesday night for John Merino.

- You're doing it with your spouse?

- NARRATOR: His wife Jennie just beat him home.

- Jennie: Hey babe!

- JOHN: Spaghetti!

- NARRATOR: Your busy American family with two jobs, two kids, and an incredibly hectic life.

- Jennie: Aw man, that's it!

- JOHN: That's it!

A lot of that personal time that we spent kind of came to a halt.

I thought we had some of the other stuff.

- I mean you just kind of wake up one day and you look at each other like who are you, you know, cause you spend all of your time trying to do everything you can for the babies.

And you kind of look at each other like, you've changed and you don't really know what you've changed into!

- Apparently at some point, at some point along the way I became grouchy!

[Jennie laughs] - JOHN: Careful it's hot!

- DAUGHTER: This here booboo does it hurt?

- Which one?

- This one?

- Oh yeah, that's a callous.

So tomorrow, it's like standard run, get up at 4:00, out of here by 4:30.

I'm totally spaced right now!

I'm so tired!

- NARRATOR: John and Jennie are training for the Texas Water Safari... which is about four months away.

- Jennie: I know I'm going to have trouble steering!

- NARRATOR: Neither had even paddled in a canoe together before this.

- JOHN: All right, ready!

- Ready babe?

- NARRATOR: And now they train together just about every day.

- JOHN: It's gotten a lot better, compared to the first time we were out here, we didn't have these paddles turned the right direction as embarrassing as that is.

[laughs] - NARRATOR: They've named their team Couples Therapy .

- So we had lost you know a lot of time together, and this is an effort in trying to get that back, and it's worked wonderfully.

It's been healing and helpful for us in a lot of ways.

- Jennie: I had to spend most of the time at the beginning just basically making the boat go straight.

So now I'm trying to learn my paddle technique.

- NARRATOR: Paddle technique is not a problem for team Texas Flood .

- GASTON JONES: That might be as good as it gets, it's called closed cell foam, so it doesn't take on moisture.

- JEFF: Our bilge pump, a lot of effort in water evacuation.

- I think these weigh 22 ounces and these weigh 7 ounces maybe.

- NARRATOR: The six man veteran team won last year and is expected to repeat.

- The best thing is just we're all good friends you know it's just guys that I enjoy spending time with.

- Hut!

- GASTON: You know we did it last year, we put the team together, we all had a real good time after the race we all wanted to race together again.

[paddles splash water] - ANDREW: Training run, we're going 48 miles.

We're going from here to Palmetto State Park.

[paddles splashing water] When we're training we'll go real hard for a mile.

Do like a mile interval, on a high fast water I think we've gone close to eleven per mile.

- GASTON: Heads up!

- NARRATOR: Deemed the world's toughest canoe race, the Texas Water Safari is a 260 mile river adventure from San Marcos to Se adrift.

It started in 1963 and has become one of the premiere paddling races in the country.

[raging rapids] - Oh!

Look at him!

Oh poor baby!

- NEWS ANNOUNCER: Good evening from Central Texas, the scene of utter devastation, a natural disaster of epic proportions after days of relentless, historic rains triggered raging floods.

- NARRATOR: Because of the historic flooding, the race is postponed twice.

- I wish I could jump down that like that.

- NARRATOR: Delaying it over a month.

- Jennie: But know nothing is going to be the same, and we're novices, so you know we prefer to go look at it, scout it out.

So it'll be interesting!

[water rages] - NARRATOR: With just a week till the race, both teams get in a final practice.

- As compared to previous years that we've raced this is probably one of the highest water years that we've seen.

So lot a junk, lot a logs, lot of portaging in the river.

- NARRATOR: The six man team swamps at cottonseed rapid.

- So we've been practicing this stretch all spring and we had it each turn just down pat, you know we were nailing it!

And then it flooded and everything's changed and we've got almost zero time to learn the whole river!

- Jennie: Hut!

- JOHN: You know it's both excitement and nervousness... - Jennie: Hut!

- JOHN: We've been working for I guess five months now, just working our butts off to get ready and it's almost time!

- Jennie: Hut!

- ANNOUNCER: We're just going to blow the whistle, there's going to be no other countdown.

So when you hear this whistle, you head for Se adrift, okay.

And y'all have a safe trip!!!

[whistle] [water splashing] [upbeat music, crowd cheering] [upbeat music, crowd cheering] [upbeat music, crowd cheering] - ANDREW: It may be a little bit of a pride thing when you get to Cottonseed!

That's got to be the hottest spot in the whole race, there's people everywhere.

But we had swamped in practice a couple of times, and so you want to do it well.

You don't want to risk messing up your race there by doing something silly.

And you don't want to mess up!

[crowd cheering] [raging rapids] [crowd cheering] - Here they come!

- Me and John, our strategy is slow and steady, we're going to go the same speed the entire time and we're going to hit our checkpoints when we say.

So you know our strategy is basically keep our energy up through the whole race so that we can finish!

[crowd cheering] - We are at Fen tress, on the San Marcos River waiting for team 150 to come through!

They'll throw their empty jugs out up river, you get three jugs in each hand and just throw them in there when they go by!

And just keep on going!

- NARRATOR: The paddlers aren't the only ones racing.

Support teams scramble to stay a step, and a stop ahead.

- We stay up, we don't sleep, might get like a 20 minute nap somewhere, but for the most part we have to keep going through the whole night!

It's fun, it may be less fun tomorrow if you ask me!

I think we got it, here I can get that!

[river rapids] [cheering] - JILL: Hey Cathy, they're coming over here!

I can't pull anything out, pull your jugs out, they don't want us doing it!

Will you get that white bottle out!

- FAN: Way to go guys!

- VOLUNTEER: Now we have to hurry up and wait somewhere else!

[cheering] - MOTHER: There's Dada, yeah Dada!

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

[rushing water] - FERNANDO: Let's go, let's go!

Doing good!

- Doing ok so far!

We're staying on schedule that's good!

- This is fun!

- JOHN: Well at Elder, we're preparing for nighttime, it's going to be dark.

We don't want to have to pull over on the riverbank and put lights on, so we're doing it now.

- Look we have matching lights!

- They said at Palmetto you need to go right!

- JOHN: Try not to spend too much time there, it's easy to spend time at checkpoints talking or doing things we don't want to get in this trap.

We just want to get right back in the water now and go!

- FERNANDO: All right keep up the good work!

- Jennie: Thank you!

- FERNANDO: Absolutely, keep it going!

- Jennie: Hut!

- NARRATOR: As sun sets on day one, the solitude and silence of the San Marcos River sinks in.

- ANDREW: There's no ambient light, so you're hearing noises all night, rushing water, different sounds, things scratching through the underbrush.

And you have no idea what it is you can't see it!

You can only see straight ahead.

It's night, it's dark, you're tired.

- GASTON: Do you know how far back!

- VOLUNTEER: You're good man!

- ANDREW: That's one of the hardest stretches of the race, just that first night, when you're really all alone and you've been paddling all day, and kind of dawns on you that you're a third of the way done!

- JILL: You all look great!

- CHILD: No mamma, no mamma!

- MOM: Hang on!

- Look baby Daddy's in the boat, say go Dad go!

You got to be louder so he can hear you!

Hey babe!

They look good!

[crowd cheering] - This is my vacation, man!

It's a hell of a lot easier than going to work every day!

I mean for sure, so, so day two when you're super tired and all you're focusing on is staying healthy and trying to get that paddle in the water and pull on it hard.

You've totally forgotten about everything else.

You get to this real simple existence.

[egrets calling] - GASTON: It's just a beautiful river, year after year, you see things change.

You see the same magnificent tree year after year.

Certain places that no one has access to unless you paddle to it!

[upbeat music] - It is 7:48, and our guys are coming in to the finish line!

[upbeat music] - Here they come!

- WADE BIN ION: You're drained physically, you're at your limit and you're almost there!

- I think, hey Sam, did somebody just bale, did they just flip?

Yeah, that sucks!

They just flipped out in the bay!

So they're trying to get back in!

- NARRATOR: Despite the dump in the bay, Team Texas Flood finishes the race in 35 hours and two minutes winning the Water Safari for the second year in row.

- It's kind of a culmination of all the hardships you've been going through, you're reaching your accomplishment, your goal, so it's very emotional.

[crowd cheers] [splash in bay] You reach that point put your stamp on it good or bad, and you can look back and be proud of what you've done!

[crowd cheers] - GASTON: You know the race isn't all about the race, it's more about the experience, the camaraderie, and I really enjoy spending time with all these guys!

That's what's important you know really!

- PHOTOGRAPHER: Look right here guys, right here!

[uplifting music] [paddles gently splashing] [crickets chirps] - FERNANDO: So how you all holding up?

- JOHN: All right!

Oh yes!

I think this is like my third Hamburger meal in two days!

- Jennie: It's probably 90% mental by this point, we learned the skills as best we could in seven months, but it's very challenging, it forces you to push it to the limit and that's what we're here for!

- JOHN: See you all after a while!

The relationship, we've been together 12 years, and things we're great before kids, we had a lot of fun, we did a lot of traveling right!

A lot of that personal time that we spent you know doing fun things kind of came to a halt.

So we had lost you know a lot of time together.

- Jennie: Move over close to the trees!

[raging rapids] - JOHN: Get pounded from waves from both sides!

- Jennie: You better hurry!

- JOHN: Yep!

- Jennie: Ha, ha!

The river healed me and John quite a bit!

Hut!

And it brings your priorities back into alignment, you realize what's really important in life, and this race is all about that!

[uplifting music] - FERNANDO: How we doing?

Over here!

- JOHN: All right, we're doing wonderful!

- FERNANDO: Right here, right here!

- JOHN: That was miserable!

- FERNANDO: Go past the blinking light!

- Oh that was just never ending!

- FAN: You guys are doing awesome!

- John was a little concerned about me.

I'm hallucinating pretty badly.

At least they're good hallucinations!

- JOHN: Also right now, is we're not taking care of ourselves like we had throughout the race.

Every hour we ate, consumed stuff!

We were making sure we were drinking a lot.

We weren't doing these basic things to keep ourselves healthy.

You know what I need!

I need a Zantac!

I have like raging heartburn!

[uplifting music] [crowd cheers] [uplifting music] - Yeah they took a beating this time!

They took a real beating, you get hooked, it's a spiritual cleansing, because it makes you appreciate everything.

All the small little things like a place to lay down!

[uplifting music] - They've persevered through a lot.

Sleep deprivation, not eating a lot, maybe not being able to hold down food!

Uh, they've accomplished quite a big feat!

- NARRATOR: After three days and paddling 260 miles, John and Jennie finally make it to Se adrift together.

- JOHN: I guess it's a testament to how much you do love somebody, right, regardless of what state your relationship's in!

When you can sit down and do something so difficult together, for the sake of healing all the things that have been going on.

- Me and John connected on a level that you don't even think's possible.

And it's amazing to be with someone through this journey and know that when you are at your lowest point, and you don't think you can go on, someone's going to pick you up, and you figure out really fast what you're capable of, and what's important to you out on that river.

[crowd cheers] - JOHN: It's great, it's a wonderful feeling!

[uplifting music] - Jennie: The race was amazing, and it changed us, it did what it was supposed to do... and we're absolutely addicted, so we can't wait to get back on the river now!

[paddles splash] You can help support Texas Parks and Wildlife's big game conservation efforts through the Bighorn Sheep and White-Tailed Deer Conservation License Plate program.

[buck snort] [helicopter whirs] Over $1.2 million has been generated from the sale of these plates, funding projects like chronic wasting disease research and containment, population and harvest surveys, and bighorn sheep and pronghorn restoration efforts.

(honk, honk) Every plate on a car, truck or trailer, means more money for Big Game in Texas.

[upbeat music] - So there's the nest right over there.

Sprinkler spraying right into it.

- JON HAYES: Might cool them off at least.

- DR. GLOOM: Oh yeah, there's one above the nest.

- JON: Oh yeah look at that.

- NARRATOR: These birds are Loggerhead Shrikes, and despite the occasional unplanned shower, this city park in Round Rock, Texas has turned out to be a pretty good place to build a nest.

- JON: Here comes the sprinkler hitting them again.

- This is a 570-acre park in a very urbanized area, and there's at least 14 different pairs with young.

[chain saw revs] - JON: It's not necessarily the ideal place as far as we are concerned.

It's managed for recreational purposes and it is in a suburban community.

But there's something about it that they like.

- NARRATOR: The Loggerhead in the bird's name refers to its fairly large head in relation to the rest of the body.

The Loggerhead Shrike is unusual in that it's a songbird with a raptor's habits.

Its diet consists of bugs and insects, but it also eats lizards, snakes, mice, even other songbirds.

- DR. GLOOM: One of the things that it has is a hooked bill.

When they capture their prey, they catch it on the back like a lion in the savanna, pull it down then bite at the neck to paralyze their prey.

- NARRATOR: Then the shrike will do something that is really interesting.

It impales its meal on something sharp, like a thorn or barbed wire.

- DR. GLOOM: Their feet aren't strong enough to hold on to and tear it apart like a raptor would, they put it on thorns so the thorn can hold the food and they can use their bill to get pieces to feed their young.

- It's kind of a story of brains versus brawn.

It's smart enough to learn to adapt and use its environment.

And so it's kind of a neat little bird in that way.

- NARRATOR: Jim Gloom came to this park looking for Scissor-tail Flycatchers.

What he found was a lot of Loggerhead Shrikes.

- DR. GLOOM: They are a common bird that is in serious decline.

They are declining by six percent a year in this area.

So there are eggs.

They are listed as endangered in Canada.

They span across all of North America down into Mexico.

They are one of the many grassland birds that are in trouble right now.

- NARRATOR: Trouble for the Loggerhead Shrike and many grassland bird species comes in the form of habitat changes.

Jim is with the Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture, which is a partnership of government agencies and private groups working to address habitat loss and restoration for grassland birds.

- DR. GLOOM: As humans, we are really good at either clearing out the land or letting everything grow up and get overgrown with shrubs, and these birds kind of need something in the middle.

They need the low grass but they also need the scattered trees within the fields for nest sites.

- JON: So a number of these grassland species are in a serious decline but one of the nice things about these types of birds is they respond well to management.

And so when we've got landowners out there doing the right things, providing the right kind of habitat, we can see increases in the population pretty quickly.

Heck of a start.

- NARRATOR: While the folks with the Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture are out there working with landowners to improve habitat for grassland birds, these Loggerhead Shrikes have made this urban park their home.

- JON: It's the short grass, scattered trees where they can find perches, plenty of areas to forage around those trees.

They've had to come to places like this that are providing the habitat that they need but may be less than ideal when we think about it from a larger scale.

- NARRATOR: And those Scissor-tail Fly Catchers that Jim had originally hoped to find?

Well, they too have settled in at Old Settlers Park.

- JON: There's something about this park that provides the right structure for them really and provides the kind of habitat that they're looking for.

It's just kind of hit a sweet spot for them and they obviously like this area.

[birds chirping] - NARRATOR: This project was funded in part by a grant from the Wildlife Restoration Program.

On a side note here, we'd like to discourage you from sticking your smart phone, or your camera, or anything into an active birds nest.

You risk the parents abandoning the nest, and it could be considered 'harassment of wildlife.'

So leave the research and the photography to the professionals.

[traffic] [crickets chirp] [crickets chirp] [crickets chirp] [light breeze] [light breeze] [crickets chirp] [crickets chirp] [crickets chirp] [crickets chirp] [crickets chirp] [crickets chirp] This 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 is provided by Toyota.

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

Toyota -- Let's Go Places.