[00:01:11.880] [music] [00:01:11.240] As it always has, [00:01:13.120] spring comes once again to North Carolina. [00:01:16.760] It is a time of new growth, new life, a time of awakening. [00:01:22.000] [music] [00:01:33.320] It is a time for the music of shower fed streams [00:01:36.720] and the song of birds is heard across the land. [00:01:39.900] [music] [00:01:44.520] Woodland flowers carpet the earth. [00:01:44.520] Spring beauties, [00:01:48.300] [music] [00:01:53.000] trout lilies, [00:01:54.680] and so many others. [00:01:56.543] [music] [00:02:01.080] A vireo feeds a caterpillar to a nestling. [00:02:03.920] [music] [00:02:08.080] While nearby, a young flicker waits patiently for a meal. [00:02:13.440] When father flicker comes home [00:02:15.760] everyone gets a feast. [00:02:17.986] [music] [00:02:50.440] A mourning dove broods its fast growing youngsters. [00:02:54.200] Although doves produce only two young at a time, [00:02:57.200] they nest three to five times a season. [00:03:00.440] Soon these nestlings will be streaking across the sky. [00:03:04.014] [music] [00:03:08.680] During spring months, muskrats along the coastal marshes [00:03:12.760] have little time to indulge in a leisurely shampoo [00:03:16.000] [music] [00:03:20.440] or go for a relaxing swim in a crystal pool. [00:03:24.640] They are too busy replenishing the marsh with new life. [00:03:28.043] [music] [00:03:36.040] Muskrats are born in houses made from marsh vegetation. [00:03:40.280] At birth, they are helpless and hairless and blind. [00:03:43.814] [music] [00:03:54.880] These are only about five days old and their eyes have not yet opened. [00:04:00.600] Muskrats bear from three to five young in each litter [00:04:03.960] and have four or five litters each year. [00:04:06.557] [music] [00:04:11.320] They are valuable furbearers, [00:04:13.240] and if unmolested by predators or changing water levels [00:04:16.720] they will produce litter after litter, [00:04:18.840] year after year. [00:04:19.900] [music] [00:04:38.880] When nesting time is at its peak, [00:04:40.920] rookeries along the coastal sounds teem with activity. [00:04:45.280] The sky is seldom empty of graceful herons and egrets. [00:04:49.129] [music] [00:05:04.160] There are tricolored herons, [00:05:06.257] egrets, [00:05:08.529] [music] [00:05:13.360] little blue herons, and others. [00:05:17.400] Hundreds of nests contain eggs and nestlings of all ages. [00:05:21.800] [music] [00:05:33.120] While nearly grown youngsters train for flight in the treetops. [00:05:39.240] Rookeries like this provide [00:05:40.960] all the essentials for new life for wading birds. [00:05:44.720] Isolation provides security from predators, [00:05:47.720] while nearby marshes and shallow bays abound with fish and other foods. [00:05:53.680] Life is where you find it [00:05:55.600] and in the spring, it seems to be everywhere. [00:05:58.829] [music] [00:06:02.400] Coastal salt marshes are a world of changing tides. [00:06:06.900] [music] [00:06:09.480] Fiddler crabs and soft black mud. [00:06:12.471] [music] [00:06:19.640] They are also the home of the clapper rail. [00:06:22.686] [music] [00:06:29.160] The female builds her nest above the high watermark [00:06:32.200] from materials found in the dense vegetation. [00:06:36.760] After three weeks of incubation, the eggs hatch and the young rails emerge [00:06:41.800] exhausted from their effort to enter this world. [00:06:45.240] Black as coal [00:06:46.200] they blend perfectly with the mud and shadows. [00:06:48.986] [music] [00:06:52.960] Camouflage is one of nature's ways of protecting her young. [00:06:48.986] [music] [00:07:07.680] Mother rail remains on her nest until all the eggs have hatched [00:07:11.760] and the nestlings are strong enough to follow her away in search of food. [00:06:48.986] [music] [00:07:30.120] Spring comes to the uplands. [00:07:33.440] A motionless fawn waits for its mother, [00:07:36.080] depending on its natural camouflage to hide it from possible enemies. [00:07:39.857] [music] [00:07:43.760] An almost complete lack of odor protects it from even the most keen nosed predator. [00:07:49.960] Hidden fawns like this have not been deserted. [00:07:53.840] This one, only three days old, will be cared for by its mother. [00:07:59.600] Within a few days it will be strong enough to follow her. [00:06:48.986] [music] [00:08:12.600] To explore the new world of light and color. [00:06:48.986] [music] [00:08:25.920] And if the world is too big right now, [00:08:28.880] well, there's always mother. [00:06:48.986] [music] [00:08:39.720] Where the range is good [00:08:41.600] deer are productive, sometimes too productive. [00:08:45.800] Wise management will make sure that surplus animals are harvested [00:08:49.680] so that deer herds will not destroy their habitat and thus themselves [00:08:53.640] through starvation or disease. [00:08:55.920] A waste of valuable wildlife resources. [00:08:58.457] [music] [00:09:04.000] Nature provides many types of habitat. [00:09:07.240] Each supplies the essentials of life for certain species of wildlife. [00:09:11.829] [music] [00:09:16.760] In this world of lily pads, a purple gallinule finds a place to nest and feed [00:09:24.200] and almost walk on water. [00:09:11.829] [music] [00:09:36.200] Habitats that support game species also [00:09:38.920] support some animals that occasionally feed on game. [00:09:43.440] The elusive alligator, [00:09:45.157] [music] [00:09:51.480] or the cunning, ill-tempered bobcat. [00:09:57.520] But predators are a part of nature's plan. [00:10:00.880] They serve to eliminate the weak, [00:10:03.120] the diseased, making sure that only the fittest survive. [00:10:09.200] Where man has interfered with natural [00:10:11.520] habitat by agriculture or other developments, [00:10:14.880] he can help restore what he has taken by planting lespedeza, [00:10:19.240] multiflora rose, and other plants that give small game [00:10:23.200] a place in which to live and reproduce their kind. [00:10:26.471] [music] [00:10:40.640] Hedgerows of multiflora rose or lespedeza provide protective cover for rabbits [00:10:48.120] as well as scenic beauty. [00:10:53.480] Where a young rabbit can nibble on clover with little fear of predators. [00:10:57.757] [music] [00:11:06.880] Mother cottontail makes her nest [00:11:08.800] by digging a hole in the earth about the size of half a grapefruit, [00:11:13.080] lining it with hair from her body and concealing it with grass and leaves [00:11:17.586] [music] [00:11:27.840] These young bunnies are about twelve days old [00:11:30.960] and in a few more days [00:11:32.160] they will leave the nest to face the world on their own. [00:11:35.486] [music] [00:11:49.840] At the edge of a cornfield [00:11:51.720] a wild turkey broods her newly hatched young. [00:11:55.480] Protected by a tangle of blackberry briars, [00:11:58.120] she has patiently incubated her eggs for four long weeks. [00:12:02.560] Because of plenty of natural cover [00:12:05.000] no predators found her nest [00:12:07.160] and now the long vigil is over. [00:12:09.271] [music] [00:12:20.120] Some of her inquisitive youngsters are [00:12:22.040] eager to learn about the world around them, [00:12:25.000] while others are perfectly content to remain hidden in warmth [00:12:29.280] and security under their mother's breast. [00:12:32.271] [music] [00:12:47.560] As soon as instinct tells her that her offspring are strong enough, [00:12:51.400] she will lead them away from the nest, never to return. [00:12:54.529] [music] [00:12:59.080] Few game species anywhere have [00:13:01.200] the quantity of wildness possessed by the turkey. [00:13:04.760] It is a game bird worthy of a helping hand [00:13:07.120] to restore it to its proper place in the wildlife community. [00:13:10.743] [music] [00:13:16.880] Through research, through proper habitat control, [00:13:19.800] through technical management practices, and above all, [00:13:23.040] through public understanding and support of a sound restoration program, [00:13:27.760] this great American game bird can be restored to harvestable numbers. [00:13:32.671] [music] [00:13:51.880] Someone said that Mother Nature has a sense of humor. [00:13:55.640] Perhaps the opossum is proof of this. [00:13:58.214] [music] [00:14:03.080] Someone else said that a possum is an animal put together by a committee. [00:14:08.240] Well, here is a whole committee of possums [00:14:10.560] complete with chairman, vice chairman, and board of directors. [00:14:14.086] [music] [00:14:34.680] Well, there is always one dissenting vote. [00:14:37.957] [music] [00:14:44.800] The opossum is one of the world's oldest mammals. [00:14:48.760] It has survived partly because of its habit of feigning death in time of danger. [00:14:53.529] [music] [00:14:57.840] At birth, baby possums are so tiny [00:15:00.240] you could put a dozen of them in a tablespoon. [00:15:03.280] They spend the next few weeks [00:15:04.840] in the mother's marsupial pouch before they emerge to the outside world. [00:15:09.700] [music] [00:15:48.520] Exploring is a lot of fun [00:15:50.840] if you don't get lost, [00:15:52.240] but there is nothing like home and mother. [00:15:57.560] When moccasin flowers bloom in the countryside, [00:16:00.840] the nesting season of the wood duck is at its peak. [00:16:04.229] [music] [00:16:10.760] This wood duck hen, sitting on top of a wood duck box, [00:16:14.880] keeps an eye on her handsome husband [00:16:17.520] who could win honors in a beauty contest. [00:16:20.329] [music] [00:16:29.040] When they can find them, wood ducks prefer to nest in hollow trees, [00:16:35.880] but hollow trees are not as numerous as they used to be. [00:16:39.400] And wood ducks, like people, face a housing shortage in many parts of the country. [00:16:44.880] There is no housing shortage on this bond where thirty nest boxes have been erected. [00:16:52.200] Let's follow the events in just one of these wood duck boxes. [00:16:56.443] [music] [00:17:00.880] Wood duck eggs are surrounded by soft [00:17:03.360] down the mother bird has plucked from her own breast. [00:17:06.680] It is the job of the female wood duck to incubate the eggs. [00:17:10.440] She takes only two breaks a day - [00:17:12.520] one in early morning, the other in late afternoon. [00:17:18.800] This goes on for a month [00:17:22.680] and then it is hatching time. [00:17:24.600] [music] [00:17:32.480] Within a few hours hatching is over and soaking wet down becomes dry and fluffy. [00:17:38.657] [music] [00:17:44.280] Mother wood duck broods her young in the nest [00:17:46.880] only during the first day after hatching. [00:17:49.329] [music] [00:17:56.920] The average number of eggs in a clutch is about ten or eleven, [00:18:00.329] [music] [00:18:05.040] but sometimes this must seem to her like three dozen or more. [00:18:08.843] [music] [00:18:23.600] All night long she will keep them warm and comfortable, if not asleep, [00:18:27.960] letting them gain strength for the big adventure tomorrow. [00:18:31.157] [music] [00:18:52.480] Tomorrow is already here. [00:18:54.760] Is there any danger? [00:18:56.840] Well, the coast seems to be clear, [00:18:59.360] but how do you go about getting a dozen or more [00:19:01.560] unruly youngsters to jump out of a bed [00:19:04.040] that is, by comparison, thirty feet above the floor? [00:19:09.600] Let's see how a mother wood duck does it. [00:19:12.029] [music] [00:19:40.960] This can be frustrating. [00:19:43.200] [music] [00:19:50.600] Wood ducks nests in hollow trees are sometimes fifty feet above the ground, [00:19:55.280] but somehow the youngsters come through this ordeal unhurt. [00:19:58.843] [music] [00:20:20.920] Wood duck nestlings are hatched, [00:20:22.740] already equipped with claws that nature provided them for the sole [00:20:26.240] purpose of climbing up the inside of a hollow tree or nest box. [00:20:30.171] [music] [00:20:38.320] The erection of wood duck boxes proves that given a place to live [00:20:43.320] our wildlife resources can replenish themselves, but they need our help. [00:20:48.014] [music] [00:21:30.520] The exodus is over. [00:21:32.720] The nest is empty. [00:21:33.871] [music] [00:21:39.800] Assured that no one has been left in the nest, [00:21:42.720] mother wood duck leads her brood out into the new world of springtime. [00:21:46.729] [music] [00:21:56.720] In two months, [00:21:57.720] they will grow up and fly away awaiting another springtime of their own. [00:22:02.886] [music] [00:22:07.920] Springtime is nature's time to replenish the earth. [00:22:11.960] Springtime is for the young to be born, [00:22:14.840] and as these bear cubs, to grow in strength and stature. [00:22:19.343] [music] [00:23:44.440] Nature is productive and given a chance [00:23:47.720] she will produce new life each year, year after year, and on forever. [00:23:53.086] [music] [00:23:56.840] There must be an abundance of food and protective cover. [00:24:00.657] [music] [00:24:18.720] Because man has interfered with nature's balance [00:24:21.880] she can no longer provide all of the natural habitat that is needed [00:24:25.640] to produce a harvestable supply of wildlife each year. [00:24:30.280] That is why we have a wildlife conservation program. [00:24:34.640] It is why all of us must realize [00:24:37.400] that to have ducks, we must have swamps and marshes, [00:24:42.840] to have deer we must have timberlands, [00:24:46.360] to have rabbits we must have thickets. [00:24:50.800] Only so long as we help to provide these basic needs [00:24:54.720] can we enjoy the beauty and pleasure provided by our wildlife resources. [00:24:59.357] [music] [00:25:23.320] It was Solomon, in all his wisdom, who said, [00:25:27.800] "To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. [00:25:33.840] A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to reap. [00:25:40.280] He hath made every thing beautiful in his time from the beginning unto the end."