♪♪ >> MILLS: Look.

You can see... [ Laughs ] So, this is a little American alligator.

It's not a crocodile.

Okay, here we go.

Here's a couple more.

In fact, one of them just flew.

♪♪ You know, we've had some great adventures shooting "Coastal Kingdom."

We've had the opportunity to film some incredible animals in beautiful Lowcountry habitats.

But we thought it'd be kind of fun to look back at some of our favorite clips from the past several years.

And also, look at that beautiful sort of blue-gray skin.

[ Chuckling ] I'm staying away from the teeth because they have 50 teeth.

More teeth than any other terrestrial mammal.

Squid can change color.

They're some of the best chameleons around.

Let me see if I can get him behind the head.

There we go.

And, see, now I can hold him a little bit more carefully.

[ Splashing ] Beautiful animal.

Gorgeous animal.

♪♪ This guy has the ability to pop that claw very loudly.

And it's audible.

You can actually hear these things making noise in the marsh.

What an amazing animal.

If you look in, you'll notice the little tiny digits, very, very small legs.

Port Royal Sound is a marriage of ocean and land, a relationship created by a combination of rising sea level, extremely high tides, and unique geology.

♪♪ Like we said, this longleaf forest habitat is really, really important.

I mean, it's all about the habitat.

[ Alligator yips ] And you can see, it's making kind of a yelping noise.

And babies make that, but even medium-sized alligators like this do, as well.

And although it looks really, really dangerous, it's completely harmless.

The Hickory Horned Devil is the larva, or the caterpillar, of a great big moth called a Royal Walnut Moth.

And if you look right here, you'll see a really neat animal.

There's a southern toad.

And this is a really big toad.

Filming at night adds a whole bunch of difficulties, but it's also a time when some really cool stuff comes out.

[ Frogs croaking ] Guys, this is one of the coolest things.

Behind me are just -- I'll bet there are 25 or 30 alligators, and what we can see is the eyeshines.

And, so, these guys have sort of crystal-like structures in their eyes, and when you shine a light on them, they reflect back this real pretty orange color.

So, I mean, there are a ton of alligators sitting right in this hole right here.

And I think I know what they're up to.

I mean, they're kind of stacked up, and all kind of waiting on something.

Now, when we came up, we saw a great big alligator, about a 10-footer, cross the road right here.

And there's a rather significant alligator highway here.

And alligators are going back and forth.

I think I know why.

This is freshwater.

So, we're in freshwater.

And right over next to us is the salt marsh.

Alligators love to get into the salt marsh, feed on blue crabs and mullet and all sorts of salt-marsh sorts of things to eat.

But they can't stay in the salt water very long, just for a few days, because they can't handle the salt.

So what they do is go into the salt marsh, feed all they can, then they slide back into the freshwater, drink a bunch, purge all that salt out of their systems, and then they're able to go back in the salt marsh again.

When you think of nocturnal reptiles, one of the first things you think about is alligators.

I mean, alligators are really nocturnal, and they like to feed at night.

Now, you may see them basking on the bank, or you may see them swimming around during the day, especially in cooler weather.

But when the temperatures get really warm, they become really nocturnal.

They're excellent night hunters.

They have excellent night vision.

And that's when they seem to be most comfortable, is moving around when it's dark.

[ Insects buzzing, frogs croaking ] Some of the most amazing animals in the Lowcountry come out at night.

And we're in this wetland in -- actually in the middle of town.

It's just a retention basin.

But this wetland is critically important for a lot of things.

And you can hear the activity here.

There's green tree frogs, barking tree frogs, there's narrow-mouthed toads.

And all these animals have come to this wetland at night to attract mates and to mate.

This right here is a barking tree frog.

And this one was just calling away, but he's taking a little bit of a break.

But notice he's puffed his body up with air, and that gives him the ability to float on the surface.

Let me see if I can...

I can right away tell that this is a male, and that's because right underneath his chin here he has some extra skin, and it's kind of darkened.

That's a vocal sack.

So, males are the only ones that really vocalize, the only ones that make that noise to call mates.

And so that extra skin blows up and sort of holds air.

And the air is forced out real quickly, comes out of the mouth and makes sort of a honking sound, or a little bit like a dog barking.

Now, another thing that'll tell us, this guy has toe pads.

Each one of his toes has little sticky toe discs on it.

And so this is one of the tree frogs.

And tree frogs are known as good climbers, and their sticky toe pads help them to go straight up the trunk of a tree, or even up glass sometimes.

So, what a treat to be out at night in the middle of a pond somewhere with this amount of energy around you.

For me, this is about as good as it gets.

[ Frog calling ] As you can imagine, things don't always work out exactly the way we plan them.

Oh, man, we are just getting attacked by mosquitos.

Ouch.

Boy, they pinch hard.

[ Laughs ] As you can see, this guy's -- He really pinches hard.

I don't know if he's gonna... [ Chuckling ] You can see how agile they are.

These little guys are really, really good [Laughing] Okay, I caught him.

You can see him kind of pulsing, and, uh... Ow.

And this guy's got a pretty good grip on me.

Looks like he's maybe a little bit -- little bit feisty.

[ Laughs ] You know, it's amazing how hard even little crabs can bite.

Sometimes we come across things that we never thought we'd get a chance to film.

♪♪ If you look behind me, you'll see one of the most charismatic and acrobatic of all bird species.

These are swallow-tailed kites.

These are big birds.

They have a wingspan of over four feet, sometimes even close to five feet.

But they're light birds.

These birds are staging right now.

So, what they're doing is eating as much as they possibly can because they have a really, really long migration down to Brazil in South America.

So we're talking about a tremendous flight, and of course that requires a lot of energy.

So they stop at a spot, eat as much as they can, move further south, and then continue to do that.

Those same birds will come back here next year.

It is so exciting when you think about how far they have to travel, and some of the perils that they face in their journey.

♪♪ I've been lucky enough to see some really cool things in nature.

But every now and then, you see something that just absolutely blows your mind.

And what you're about to see is something that, as far as I know, has never been filmed in nature.

Let's go check it out.

Now, if you look right this way, there's an adult female alligator.

And actually it looks like she's maybe headed this way.

And if you look to my left, there's a den.

But what's really, really cool is right here.

And this is something that I have never seen before in my life.

This is a leucistic baby alligator.

It's just basking right here.

There's a couple others around.

Tell you what, I'm gonna real carefully scoop this guy up.

[ Alligator yipping ] Watch her, Rob.

[ Alligator hisses ] And she's vocalizing a little bit.

And this is one of those things that you don't want to try, because if you get too close to a baby alligator, there's the chance that the mother may be very protective.

But this is an animal that -- you notice there's a little bit of a pigment here.

This is not amelanism, lack of dark pigment.

This is, I think, leucistic, which would mean it lacks most pigment.

And this is an animal that -- as an adult, this thing I think will be ivory, completely ivory-colored, almost white.

And here's another one that I didn't even see.

It was right in front of me and I didn't even realize it.

These things actually are more cryptic on these light-colored leaves than I would have guessed.

Now, since this is such an incredibly rare event in nature, this South Carolina alligator-research team is gonna capture the mother and pull blood from her.

So, what they can do is pull blood, and they can get a sample that'll give them genetic information, information on metals, and all sorts of just incredible stuff.

So, after they caught the mother, they were able to catch a couple normal-looking hatchlings.

So I thought it'd be kind of neat to compare the two.

So, here's a normal -- this is normal coloration.

Wonderful cryptic pattern here.

And then we'll put it in with these others, and you see there's a big difference.

Now, remember, these are gonna develop a much lighter -- kind of an ivory color as they grow, with just little bits of pigment left.

One of my favorite things about "Coastal Kingdom" is we get to work with some people who are real experts in their field.

Port Royal Sound is home to an incredible diversity of bird species.

But the oystercatcher has to be about the most charismatic of all.

We've got a real treat today.

We have Dr. Al Segars with us, and Al has agreed to let us participate in an oystercatcher survey.

So, Al, why do we want to study oystercatchers?

>> SEGARS: Well, Tony, you say they're great birds, and studies have shown us the population has really crashed.

About 90% population decline.

♪♪ >> MILLS: Al, we got a -- looks like a pair of oystercatchers right here.

So how do you want to do this?

>> SEGARS: Yeah, we do.

Well, we don't want to spook them, so what we're gonna do is just kind of come aground a little further up.

>> MILLS: So, we're gonna kind of sneak up behind them.

>> SEGARS: We're gonna sneak up, stay far enough away where we really don't disturb the birds.

They're very tolerant, but you can get too close.

So we're gonna err on the side of caution, yeah.

>> MILLS: Okay.

We found a nice pair of birds.

First question I have, why are they paired up at this point?

>> SEGARS: So, these are definitely two adult birds getting ready to set up breeding territory for nesting this summer.

And it's not really their favorite habitat.

Normally they like to nest on the beach.

But there's another species that likes to go to the beach, too -- Us.

And so they've really lost a lot of their natural nesting habitat, which is one of the reasons their population's in decline.

So, they come up on shell rakes like this and are prone to overwash.

>> MILLS: Well, and especially at high tide, there's not a lot of real estate here, is there?

>> SEGARS: Oh, no.

No.

And so you get a great big high tide, say on a full moon, it's a windy day, a big boat comes by, washes the nest away.

So we've really impacted these birds by taking their nesting habitat away.

>> MILLS: So, what is the nest gonna look like once the-- So, first of all, when are these guys gonna build their nest, and what is it gonna look like?

>> SEGARS: They aren't very good home builders.

They just kind of scrape out a little depression in the shell and will lay their eggs in there.

And they pretty much guard it.

They stay with it.

One bird will go feed, take turns guarding the nest.

>> MILLS: So, what's going on here?

>> SEGARS: Yeah, I think we're having a little turf war here.

We've had some -- a pair of birds that are trying to set up shop here, and these other birds have come in on them.

So they're having a little territorial display.

[ Birds chirping ] >> MILLS: Coastal real estate's pretty important.

>> SEGARS: And it gets more expensive every day.

It really does.

>> MILLS: Another group of animals that's active year-round here in the Lowcountry are the owls.

And since owls are largely nocturnal, you got to get out at night to see them.

And if you want to find an owl around here, your best bet is to talk to Dr. Chris Marsh.

Chris is my boss.

He's also the executive director of the LowCountry Institute, and he knows a lot about owls.

So, Chris, how are we gonna find an owl tonight?

>> MARSH: Well, the first thing is we're dressed appropriately.

We're in dark clothes.

The next thing we're gonna do is we're gonna use a recording to draw the owl in.

>> MILLS: Technology for finding owls.

>> MARSH: That's right.

But we have to be careful with that, because we don't want to overdo that.

But we're at the right time of year, because it is winter and they're not started breeding yet.

>> MILLS: Sounds great.

Let's get started.

And I think we're gonna head right over here.

>> MARSH: All right.

Sounds good.

We've found a place where we've gotten into a thicket.

So, owls don't like to come out in the open, exposed areas, so we've gotten into a thicket with the bird.

And what we're gonna do is we're going to play the recording, see if we can hear the bird, and then we'll see if the bird likes this spot.

If we're close with the center of the bird's territory, it'll come in.

If we're not right inside the territory, it'll stay calling at a distance, and we'll just have to move.

So let's see what happens.

[ Owl call playing ] [ Owl calls ] Okay.

Tony, this is a red-face.

So, screech owls are either born as a gray-face or a red-face.

And once they're born that color, they stay that color.

The red face is only found in the South where, historically, the longleaf pine forest occurs.

See that rusty bar?

>> MILLS: Oh, yeah.

It's like the color of pinecones and pine straw.

>> MARSH: And pine bark.

>> MILLS: This guy looks like he's kind of puffed -- got his feathers kind of puffed up.

And that helps to keep him warm when it's really cool out.

Look at this thing's agility.

Boy, he can turn his head almost all the way around in a circle.

>> MARSH: And you can see how the eyes are up front, so they have binocular vision, and therefore are able to have depth perception, which is critical when you're trying to catch an animal that may be moving.

>> MILLS: So, what is this owl eating?

The insects and frogs and stuff are not here.

>> Since it's been so cold this winter, then this one's shifted over.

He's looking for mice.

And the fact that where we're at right now is right where the forest meets the edge of a very weedy field, I think gives it an excellent opportunity to hear a mouse rustling, yes.

>> MILLS: And, of course, these guys have tremendous hearing and tremendous vision, so they can see things really well.

>> MARSH: They can.

And because they're small, that means that there's a lot more small food out there, a lot more mice, than larger ones.

So, this is an adult owl.

>> MILLS: So, if you're a great horned owl, you got to eat bigger things.

>> MARSH: Exactly.

>> MILLS: Obviously.

Oh, and there he goes.

[ Laughs ] So, we got a pretty good look at him for a minute.

One of my favorite experiences was when we got a chance to film some bats in an old house.

It was a little bit spooky, but we got some great footage.

All right, it's pretty dark in here, but I think if we look around -- this looks like great habitat.

Oh, here we go!

This is exactly what we're looking for.

This is a really unusual bat.

It's called a big-eared bat, a Rafinesque's Big-eared Bat.

And this is a species of special concern.

It's protected.

But it's characterized by very, very long ears.

I mean, the ears are about that long.

And this is a species that used to roost quite a bit in sort of upright trees.

And it still does where they're available.

Hollow trees, cypress and things in the swamp.

Unfortunately, a lot of that habitat is gone, so they rely on houses like this, old houses that are close to the swamp so that they can roost.

Okay, here we go.

Here's a couple more.

In fact, one of them just flew.

One of them just flew.

But there's still one more over here.

This is another Rafinesque's Big-eared Bat.

And look at the ears on this thing.

Just a fabulous little animal.

So, wingspan of about 12 inches or so.

Bats are not big.

I mean, they are little guys.

Typical bat may weigh half an ounce or so.

You can see lots of areas here where it's stained, where bats have been roosting.

Boy, there have been thousands of bats in here.

Okay, here is a bat, and I'm gonna see if can get a grip on him.

You got to be a little bit careful.

And I have gloves on to protect my hands.

And I'm gonna see if I can just... And I've got gloves on.

He's trying to bite through the gloves, but he can't.

And I'm gonna get a good grip on him.

So, this appears to be a big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus.

Fabulous little beast.

Very common in houses, in barns and things.

In fact, it does really, really well around people.

And it likes to roost in old houses, like this abandoned house that we're in.

So this is primo habitat for a big brown bat.

[ Bat squeaks ] Sometimes filming "Coastal Kingdom" can be really hard work.

I remember one time we hooked a cobia, and we fought it for about an hour before we could get the samples we needed.

I'm not sure.

There's definitely something on it.

I'm not su-- ohh, there we go.

>> MATTSON: You have it, don't you?

>> MILLS: I can't tell.

[ Chuckles ] Oh, this feels good, whatever it is.

>> MATTSON: It's about to come on the surface.

>> MILLS: Ohh, ho!

>> MATTSON: There you go!

>> MILLS: This is a nice fish.

So, it looks like this may take a while.

These are amazingly strong fish.

They pull hard.

They just are very, very impressive.

They're solid muscle.

And, of course, there's a lot of current here, too, which they use to their advantage.

But this is a nice big fish.

I think he's coming in a little bit closer, Chris.

Well, we're not there yet, are we?

Ohhh!

Boy, that was a good run.

Just dove straight down.

>> MATTSON: Yeah, this is far from over.

Just make sure you don't grab that line.

>> MILLS: Okay.

This is a strong fish.

Oh, man.

>> MATTSON: Yeah.

>> MILLS: Every time I feel like I'm getting this fish in, it runs about 20 yards of line out.

So... [ Laughs ] I mean, I'm certainly no professional fisherman, but this is a strong fish.

Guys, I hate to be kind of a wimp [Laughs] but I'm gonna pass this off to the professional fisherman for a minute, and Chris is gonna see if he can make a little headway on this.

This is a big fish, and I'm kind of getting tired.

Okay, Chris.

>> MATTSON: You can feel on this line, Tony -- there she is.

Right here behind the boat.

See her?

You can feel the abrasion of the line from having been pulled off so many times already.

>> MILLS: So, Chris, don't make this look too easy.

Oh!

[ Laughs ] All right, I'm gonna switch with you.

>> MATTSON: Bottom lip.

Now close it.

Ready?

One, two, three.

>> MILLS: Okay, so...

This is a big, big fish, Chris.

So, this is a big female.

And a female like this... >> MATTSON: She's 42.

>> MILLS: And a female, 42 pounds.

So, this is a big cobia.

And it's still very, very green.

I mean, that was a long fight.

But this fish still has a lot of energy.

A big female like this can lay 1 million eggs.

She can spawn twice.

2 million eggs in one year from a fish like this.

These fish can reach 15 pounds in a single year, so they grow extremely quickly.

The other thing that's really important, Chris, this are our fish, right?

These are fish that move from offshore to here.

>> MATTSON: That's correct.

>> MILLS: Just east to west and west to east.

And they're not coming north or south or anything like that.

They're our fish that move in every year.

>> MATTSON: You know, everybody thinks, "I'm gonna get this fish because the Florida guys are gonna get it, or the Georgia guys are gonna get it."

And it's not true.

You know, almost all these fish, their actual migration pattern is east to west.

>> MILLS: And the big ones are females, right?

>> MATTSON: Most of the big ones are females.

They've got a little bit of a broader head, typically, and a lot more of a swollen abdomen.

We're gonna let this one go anyway.

>> MILLS: This one could be full of eggs.

I'm staying away from those spines.

Let's go ahead and get this one back in the water.

>> MATTSON: Absolutely.

We're gonna make sure we resuscitate her.

Even though she's totally lively, we want to make sure that she's 100%, or as close as we can get to 100% before we let her go.

>> MILLS: She looks good.

>> MATTSON: [ Laughs ] She's definitely doing good.

>> MILLS: She's coming right back.

>> MATTSON: I'm gonna let her go.

>> MILLS: You just let her go whenever you're ready.

>> MATTSON: She's on her way.

>> MILLS: [ Laughs ] Awesome.

>> MATTSON: Good job, Tony.

>> MILLS: That was incredible.

>> MATTSON: Wonderful fight.

>> MILLS: Thank you so much for letting us join you today.

>> MATTSON: Thank you for having me, Tony.

>> MILLS: I'll tell you what, Port Royal Sound is an amazing fishery, isn't it?

>> MATTSON: It really is.

Huge diversity of life.

♪♪ >> MILLS: Okay, now, here's something really, really cool.

There's a little hole here about the size of a nickel, and inside it, I can see a little siphon.

And I think I know what this is.

But this one, I'm gonna dig up by hand.

Boy, this is mucky stuff.

I mean, there's all kind of nutrients and stuff in here.

This darker mud is from lack of oxygen.

Boy, look at the -- [ Laughs ] The tide is rapidly coming in, so we got to do this quick.

Just in the nick of time.

'Cause the tide waters get very deep.

But look at that.

So, this is an angelwing clam, and this is the siphon.

So, this is the thing that was sticking up out of the top.

And, I mean, this thing was, you know, this deep in the sand.

And, so, boy, talk about an amazing creature.

Very delicate shell.

Since this guy lives underneath the sand, it doesn't require that real hard shell that a lot of other bivalves have.

You've probably seen these as, you know, shells.

People collect these for the shell trade.

And also, in other parts of the world especially, people eat angelwings.

They're supposed to be pretty good to eat.

But since it lives underground, it's well protected from a lot of things that might want to eat him.

And believe me, a lot of meat on that.

So there's a lot of things that would probably want to eat it.

Okay, let's put this guy back in.

And I'll tell you what, the tide is coming in very rapidly, so we want to get out of here so we don't get covered up.

♪♪ Whoa!

This one's taking some line out.

Wow!

God, these things are strong!

>> MAN: It's acting a lot like a... [ Line reeling ] >> MILLS: Wha...?

>> MAN: Acting a lot like a stingray.

>> MILLS: This is really something.

You can see, he's just pulled out lots and lots of line.

Here we go again.

Oh, wow.

I have to see if I can get back some of that line.

He just took a lot of it.

It is just awesome what lives out here.

I mean, one of the really cool things about fishing out here is you have no idea what's here.

I mean, there's just incredible things, huge things, obviously.

Whatever this is, it's big.

>> MAN: Up on the surface too, now.

>> MILLS: Look at this thing!

Oh, my gosh.

Wow!

This is about as big as stingrays get.

Or at least this species.

Look at the size of this thing.

So, this is -- it appears to be a Southern stingray.

That's at least what it looks like.

But this is, oh, probably a meter across or better.

Maybe over a meter across.

So probably about as big as they get.

You can see the big spiracles here.

Eyes mounted on top of the head.

And this has a really impressive spine.

See if we can get a look at it.

Just ama-- that looks like a little sword or something.

So, bigger stingrays typically have bigger spines.

And you can see a little bit of the fleshy part on the tail, though.

Wow.

So, this animal fought really well because they can just stick to the bottom, stick in the sand.

But this one came up to the surface so we could get a good look at him.

What, are we gonna slide this guy back in?

When we film "Coastal Kingdom," we are really committed to getting kids excited about the environment.

[ Shells clatter ] These kids from Whale Branch Middle School are building their very own oyster rake.

They've bagged the oysters.

They're working with South Carolina DNR, with the SCORE program, and they're gonna place these bags out in the marsh and make an oyster reef.

♪♪ Julie Binz is the research coordinator for the Marine Resources division of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and she's gonna take us on an adventure into the ACE basin with a group of fifth-graders.

>> GIRL: I wanted to jump off.

>> BOY: There he is.

>> BINZ: So, when they metamorph, they metamorph, how do they breathe?

>> BENZ: Yeah, so, these are gonna be our bullfrogs.

>> MILLS: We hope you guys enjoy this show as much as we do.

We look forward to many more adventures filming the plants and animals of the Lowcountry.

And thanks for joining us on "Coastal Kingdom."

♪♪