America the Beautiful: Wild Frontier (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Mighty Mississippi - full transcript
Narrator:
It is the greatest mash-up
of rivers in North America.
The Mississippi
meets the Missouri,
and then...
Hello, Ohio.
Together, a torrential team.
They converge on
one wild stretch of waterway
to make a magnet
for nature's miracles:
The sweet...
The savage...
And the strange...
All hidden within
the mighty Mississippi.
♪
♪
♪
Place three large,
frigid rivers in a bowl.
Take all the ice and snow
they've collected over winter
and apply heat.
♪
Then sprinkle in
some spring rains.
It's a recipe for disaster.
There's a part
of the Mississippi river
where such a flood
can run virtually unchecked.
♪
A force of nature
with no dams or locks.
A 200-mile stretch
that's both powerful
and untamed.
♪
It starts where
the Missouri river
meets the Mississippi,
and it goes down to where
the Ohio joins the fun.
Out here, nature gets
to run its course.
♪
But all this water
threatens dens among the banks.
These young red foxes may soon
have to find a new home.
♪
♪
(mewing and chattering)
(mewing and chattering)
they're only pups,
but they are ready to explore.
♪
♪
It seems the kits
don't waste a thought
on floods or future hardships.
But mom knows it can get tough.
Her coat is patchy,
possibly from mange...
a skin disease caused by mites.
Her partner?
He's around less,
now that the pups
are getting older.
But she still
has to care for them.
She's now a single parent
giving her young all she can,
while she can...
Seeing them through
their own troubles.
This little tyke
got a stick in the eye,
but he'll recover...
...Thanks in part to the scraps
his mom brings to the table.
In another six months,
they'll be off on their own.
Red foxes
roam more of the planet
than any other canine species.
But their footprint is firm
in the middle Mississippi.
It is an area unique
in all America.
It's the home of the biggest
river rendezvous
in the lower 48.
First, the mighty Mississippi,
then, North of st. Louis,
bring on the Missouri,
and just 200 miles or so
farther on, in Cairo, Illinois,
they meet the Ohio
to make a triple header.
Geologists call this stretch
the middle Mississippi,
and it holds the most powerful
convergence of water
in the nation.
(thunder)
water is life.
So it makes sense
that the three rivers area
draws a huge cast
of animal characters.
♪
The soil is soft
and easy to dig.
♪
The grasses provide food.
♪
And the trees give shelter
from the elements.
Thousands of birds
use nest boxes
that conservationists
have been building for them
for nearly a hundred years.
(flapping)
(chirping)
inside, a mother wood duck
has made a feather-down bed
for a fragile family of eggs.
It's spring,
so this new generation
of wood ducks
is ready to enter the world.
♪
♪
♪
♪
(chirping)
♪
At birth, they are
about as helpless as it gets,
but the learning curve
is steep for these guys.
There's no food up here,
so they have just 36 hours
to leave the nest,
or starve.
And it's a long way down.
♪
Mom checks in.
♪
Once most of her babies
have hatched,
she signals them to come on down
with a special call
she uses this time each year.
(twittering)
(twittering)
she needs to get them
to the river,
where she can protect them.
(twittering)
first step, get out of the nest.
♪
It's a leap of faith.
♪
(chirping)
♪
♪
Their tiny wings
can't carry them.
But, hey, ya gotta try.
♪
♪
♪
The duck dive.
The back flip.
♪
Each has its own heroic style.
The leaves cushion the landing.
(chirping)
but that's just the beginning.
The water is
a hundred feet away.
That's a short walk for us,
but a life-and-death marathon
for a duckling that weighs
less than an ounce.
♪
♪
Mom leads the way.
But there are some stragglers.
It often happens.
A couple of ducks
miss the mom train.
♪
♪
♪
These two siblings may pay
dearly for their tardiness.
(chirping)
now they must tackle
the path ahead
all by themselves.
And danger is everywhere.
Foxes,
bobcats,
raptors...
And one hungry black rat snake,
right at their level.
Less than two days old,
and the journey of a lifetime.
♪
Narrator: Even without mom,
these baby wood ducks
instinctively know
they must move fast
through the undergrowth
and towards
the Mississippi river.
They run a gauntlet
where they may be
the main course.
All they have on their side
is each other.
How long their
little lives will last
may depend entirely
on how this journey ends.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
Finally,
they make it to the water
and can join the family.
(chirping)
♪
(chirping)
(quacking)
♪
Here in the heart
of the three rivers,
mom can keep watch
while they eat
their greens and bugs
and grow strong.
But there are still threats.
Some of the biggest
are just around the bend.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
They are as still as statues,
a strange sight.
They appear as rocks.
But this is flesh and blood.
They're at the surface
to breathe,
but frozen.
Their metabolism is slow,
and they have a lifetime
of practicing stealth.
These are alligator
snapping turtles,
famous for their powerful jaws.
♪
♪
Down below,
they patrol the depths
and shallows of the waterways.
They are the heavyweight
predators down here.
They grow to more
than 200 pounds
and live for up to 70 years.
The males never leave the water.
And the females...
Just once a year.
(bird squawking)
a perilous annual sojourn.
This is a mission
of maternal duty.
Female
alligator snapping turtles
must find a spot about 50 yards
from the river's edge.
♪
Somewhere with soft soil.
♪
And she begins an excavation.
♪
♪
♪
Her sharp claws break the dirt.
And her hind legs
work like shovels.
It can take hours.
Well into the night.
Every minute she's here,
she's vulnerable,
exposed to predators.
Even the bugs seem to know
she won't move until she's done.
This is a job
that can't be rushed.
She appears to enter a trance.
Then, at last.
♪
♪
She mated two months ago,
and now she lays her eggs.
Throughout the long night,
she lays from ten
to as many as fifty.
♪
♪
This may be
the only contact she ever has
with her offspring.
But she carefully tends to
their most immediate need.
To remain hidden from predators.
♪
♪
It's been a hard night's work.
But will her eggs
even make it to morning?
She returns,
knowing nothing but exhaustion.
(splash)
♪
Narrator: Turtles are just
one of hundreds of species
drawn to the three rivers
of middle Mississippi.
♪
The rivers also attract people,
especially those
who like to fish.
(motor humming)
the lower levels
of the tributaries
are easy to navigate.
In some sections,
the channels
are only six feet deep.
♪
♪
It's in these
low-lying waterways
that anglers need to beware.
It's calm on top.
But there is great danger below.
They search for
just the right fishing hole...
♪
♪
♪
Hoping to catch a white bass.
Unaware that any second
they may trigger
an ambush attack.
All it takes is a passing boat.
(motor buzzing)
(splashing)
Asian carp jump en masse.
♪
♪
A reflex triggered
by anything that sounds
and feels to them like danger.
Carp in these parts can weigh
up to a hundred pounds,
but it's these
five or ten pounders
that are the big jumpers.
♪
No surprise for
seasoned anglers out here...
But the carp have broken noses
and knocked people unconscious.
In America,
they aren't popular for eating.
The Asian carp was introduced
to the united states
in the 1970s
to control weeds on fish farms.
Some escaped.
They multiplied.
And now,
they can be hard to escape.
The sound
of their own boat engine
keeps the fish coming.
They are the unwitting
conductors of an aerial ballet.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
Asian carp continue to spread
throughout the convergence
and farther north.
Some fishery experts
expect carp
to soon reach 31 states...
Taking over
the three rivers area
and 40% of the waterways in
the continental united states.
There's another invasion
about to take place here.
One of biblical proportions.
Narrator: Every year
in the middle Mississippi area,
one of summer's cooler days
triggers a landmark event.
♪
♪
Some mayflies live in the river
as nymphs for more than a year.
♪
Now they hatch with wings...
And surface all at once.
(fluttering)
♪
They weigh down
the branches of young trees
like a bumper crop
of graying leaves.
They're not just hanging out;
they have
important business here.
They slow down...
And one by one...
Become frozen in time.
At least on the outside.
On the inside,
a new creature is ready
to break out of the old skin.
♪
♪
This molting is their final
transition into adulthood.
♪
♪
♪
♪
At this point,
they are vulnerable.
And the blackbirds
and grackles know it.
♪
♪
They don't get meals
this easy every day.
♪
♪
This is a special feast
that happens
on just a few days each year.
Those mayflies who do make it
emerge with a brand-new body...
And ready to find a mate.
There's only one catch.
But it's a doozy.
This is the last day
of their lives.
Most will only live
for the next 24 hours.
No time to waste.
They must find a mate
in the frenzy,
and the clock is ticking.
♪
♪
♪
♪
There are obstacles to dodge.
But most won't be stopped.
Not today.
Up and down the Mississippi,
they create their own rush hour.
♪
♪
Their numbers grow so dense,
they can appear as clouds
on Doppler radar.
So little time for romance,
they mate on the fly.
The females then lay their eggs
in the river,
as many as 10,000 of them each.
They danced in the dark...
a party fit for
their final day on earth.
Now they return
from whence they came,
as corpses,
to the swelling waters
of the three wild rivers.
♪
The Ohio
adds its own super power
to this alliance of rivers.
By volume,
it is the biggest contributor
to the Mississippi river,
and she doubles
the discharge rate
to nearly a half million
cubic feet of water per second.
When the river is high,
it could fill more than
400 olympic swimming pools
every minute.
♪
The only thing
that helps temper the flow
is the season.
♪
It's getting close to fall.
♪
Temperatures begin to cool off.
And time to see
if the turtle eggs,
laid in the spring,
will finally produce young.
Narrator: The alligator
snapping turtle eggs
have been incubating
in the ground
for three months.
Now this.
They don't crack
like a bird egg.
♪
They are softer, more rubbery.
It takes a good bit
of pecking and clawing
to get out
and into their nest cavity.
As with many epic journeys,
the first steps can be
the most challenging...
And the stickiest.
They still get nutrients
from the egg sac
attached to their bellies.
When it's gone,
instinct drives them
to dig their way out.
♪
♪
♪
♪
They know which way to go.
But, like the wood ducks,
getting there alive
may be the biggest challenge
they ever face.
Their shells are already hard,
but that isn't enough
to protect them
against the many predators
that lurk nearby.
Especially
this menacing blue heron.
This time, a sunfish.
But it will eat a baby turtle.
The turtles
may grow to be giants.
But right now it seems like
everything is bigger
than this tiny
one-ounce creature.
The terrain becomes
an obstacle course.
(chirping)
♪
♪
Finally, entrance
into their new home.
Water never tasted so good.
♪
♪
Their chances
of long-term survival
just dramatically increased.
♪
♪
♪
On their side
they have camouflage...
And the ability to use
their snouts like snorkels...
And make like a living rock.
The return of winter
is now just a matter of time.
(screeching)
creatures on all three rivers
must prepare.
This muskrat works on a hut
that would make
a beaver jealous...
a giant mass of grasses,
mud, and cattails.
It's a sturdy home...
With just one flaw.
(honking)
it's not soundproof.
(honking)
(honking)
that becomes a problem
every year...
(honking)
when something
extraordinary happens.
(honking)
narrator:
There's a chill in the air
near mound city, Missouri.
Snow geese stop here on
the Missouri river each winter
to freshen up.
(honking)
they're migrating down
from the arctic,
headed to the gulf of Mexico.
(honking)
what starts as hundreds...
(honking)
soon grows to thousands.
(honking)
then tens of thousands
fill the sky.
(honking)
more noisy neighbors
than a muskrat can handle.
(honking)
by the week's end,
hundreds of thousands of geese
have flown in.
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
but not all will leave alive.
♪
Bald eagles
sometimes eat snow geese.
Those eagles,
just a few years old or younger,
don't have
their white heads yet,
but they still have an appetite.
The geese know the threat.
They panic.
(flapping and honking)
(honking)
(honking)
♪
(honk)
they leave a sick bird behind...
And with little hope.
(chirping)
(honk)
♪
(honk)
the goose is cooked.
♪
♪
The eagles fight for pieces
and argue over the spoils.
(chirping)
♪
(chirping and screeching)
(honking)
after a week-long stay...
The massive flock of geese,
and some ducks,
move on south.
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
aerial calligraphy.
(honking)
(honking)
translated, it says,
'ta ta, Missouri.'
'we're off to find
warmer waters.'
meanwhile,
the Missouri river heads east
for a journey of its own.
It must rendezvous
with the middle Mississippi
and add its weight
to the three rivers area.
It carries with it
the kind of cold
that's hard to shake.
♪
♪
Yet, even in
the darkest depths of winter,
there is life.
♪
♪
And some of it
is having a lot of fun.
River otters
live on all three rivers.
This family can't get enough
of that slippery, slide-y,
snow-white surface.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
No need to hibernate
like other mammals.
River otters have
oily waterproof fur
to protect them from the cold.
♪
And frigid water?
Not a problem.
They can stay under the ice,
hunting for
three to four minutes.
And sometimes they need to.
They'll eat as much as 20%
of their body weight every day.
'wanna share?'
'well, okay.'
♪
And an otter family
that hangs together
plays together.
You don't usually think of
carefree days in winter.
But that's what these are,
in the three rivers area.
In this water,
there flows the essence
of America.
♪
Ultimately, it's all called
the Mississippi.
But that's water from
31 of the lower 48 states...
two-thirds of the country.
And it's the middle Mississippi
where most of that
comes together.
This special section
represents the country
in another way, too.
The 200 miles
from saint Louis...
Down past Cape Girardeau...
And to Cairo, Illinois
is a powerful and wild stretch
of the Mississippi.
♪
♪
And the animals seem to know it.
(honking)
they converge here, too...
For a taste of what
all these rivers can offer...
To live in this part of America,
where they, like the rivers,
can flow free,
roam wide,
and remain wild.
It is the greatest mash-up
of rivers in North America.
The Mississippi
meets the Missouri,
and then...
Hello, Ohio.
Together, a torrential team.
They converge on
one wild stretch of waterway
to make a magnet
for nature's miracles:
The sweet...
The savage...
And the strange...
All hidden within
the mighty Mississippi.
♪
♪
♪
Place three large,
frigid rivers in a bowl.
Take all the ice and snow
they've collected over winter
and apply heat.
♪
Then sprinkle in
some spring rains.
It's a recipe for disaster.
There's a part
of the Mississippi river
where such a flood
can run virtually unchecked.
♪
A force of nature
with no dams or locks.
A 200-mile stretch
that's both powerful
and untamed.
♪
It starts where
the Missouri river
meets the Mississippi,
and it goes down to where
the Ohio joins the fun.
Out here, nature gets
to run its course.
♪
But all this water
threatens dens among the banks.
These young red foxes may soon
have to find a new home.
♪
♪
(mewing and chattering)
(mewing and chattering)
they're only pups,
but they are ready to explore.
♪
♪
It seems the kits
don't waste a thought
on floods or future hardships.
But mom knows it can get tough.
Her coat is patchy,
possibly from mange...
a skin disease caused by mites.
Her partner?
He's around less,
now that the pups
are getting older.
But she still
has to care for them.
She's now a single parent
giving her young all she can,
while she can...
Seeing them through
their own troubles.
This little tyke
got a stick in the eye,
but he'll recover...
...Thanks in part to the scraps
his mom brings to the table.
In another six months,
they'll be off on their own.
Red foxes
roam more of the planet
than any other canine species.
But their footprint is firm
in the middle Mississippi.
It is an area unique
in all America.
It's the home of the biggest
river rendezvous
in the lower 48.
First, the mighty Mississippi,
then, North of st. Louis,
bring on the Missouri,
and just 200 miles or so
farther on, in Cairo, Illinois,
they meet the Ohio
to make a triple header.
Geologists call this stretch
the middle Mississippi,
and it holds the most powerful
convergence of water
in the nation.
(thunder)
water is life.
So it makes sense
that the three rivers area
draws a huge cast
of animal characters.
♪
The soil is soft
and easy to dig.
♪
The grasses provide food.
♪
And the trees give shelter
from the elements.
Thousands of birds
use nest boxes
that conservationists
have been building for them
for nearly a hundred years.
(flapping)
(chirping)
inside, a mother wood duck
has made a feather-down bed
for a fragile family of eggs.
It's spring,
so this new generation
of wood ducks
is ready to enter the world.
♪
♪
♪
♪
(chirping)
♪
At birth, they are
about as helpless as it gets,
but the learning curve
is steep for these guys.
There's no food up here,
so they have just 36 hours
to leave the nest,
or starve.
And it's a long way down.
♪
Mom checks in.
♪
Once most of her babies
have hatched,
she signals them to come on down
with a special call
she uses this time each year.
(twittering)
(twittering)
she needs to get them
to the river,
where she can protect them.
(twittering)
first step, get out of the nest.
♪
It's a leap of faith.
♪
(chirping)
♪
♪
Their tiny wings
can't carry them.
But, hey, ya gotta try.
♪
♪
♪
The duck dive.
The back flip.
♪
Each has its own heroic style.
The leaves cushion the landing.
(chirping)
but that's just the beginning.
The water is
a hundred feet away.
That's a short walk for us,
but a life-and-death marathon
for a duckling that weighs
less than an ounce.
♪
♪
Mom leads the way.
But there are some stragglers.
It often happens.
A couple of ducks
miss the mom train.
♪
♪
♪
These two siblings may pay
dearly for their tardiness.
(chirping)
now they must tackle
the path ahead
all by themselves.
And danger is everywhere.
Foxes,
bobcats,
raptors...
And one hungry black rat snake,
right at their level.
Less than two days old,
and the journey of a lifetime.
♪
Narrator: Even without mom,
these baby wood ducks
instinctively know
they must move fast
through the undergrowth
and towards
the Mississippi river.
They run a gauntlet
where they may be
the main course.
All they have on their side
is each other.
How long their
little lives will last
may depend entirely
on how this journey ends.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
Finally,
they make it to the water
and can join the family.
(chirping)
♪
(chirping)
(quacking)
♪
Here in the heart
of the three rivers,
mom can keep watch
while they eat
their greens and bugs
and grow strong.
But there are still threats.
Some of the biggest
are just around the bend.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
They are as still as statues,
a strange sight.
They appear as rocks.
But this is flesh and blood.
They're at the surface
to breathe,
but frozen.
Their metabolism is slow,
and they have a lifetime
of practicing stealth.
These are alligator
snapping turtles,
famous for their powerful jaws.
♪
♪
Down below,
they patrol the depths
and shallows of the waterways.
They are the heavyweight
predators down here.
They grow to more
than 200 pounds
and live for up to 70 years.
The males never leave the water.
And the females...
Just once a year.
(bird squawking)
a perilous annual sojourn.
This is a mission
of maternal duty.
Female
alligator snapping turtles
must find a spot about 50 yards
from the river's edge.
♪
Somewhere with soft soil.
♪
And she begins an excavation.
♪
♪
♪
Her sharp claws break the dirt.
And her hind legs
work like shovels.
It can take hours.
Well into the night.
Every minute she's here,
she's vulnerable,
exposed to predators.
Even the bugs seem to know
she won't move until she's done.
This is a job
that can't be rushed.
She appears to enter a trance.
Then, at last.
♪
♪
She mated two months ago,
and now she lays her eggs.
Throughout the long night,
she lays from ten
to as many as fifty.
♪
♪
This may be
the only contact she ever has
with her offspring.
But she carefully tends to
their most immediate need.
To remain hidden from predators.
♪
♪
It's been a hard night's work.
But will her eggs
even make it to morning?
She returns,
knowing nothing but exhaustion.
(splash)
♪
Narrator: Turtles are just
one of hundreds of species
drawn to the three rivers
of middle Mississippi.
♪
The rivers also attract people,
especially those
who like to fish.
(motor humming)
the lower levels
of the tributaries
are easy to navigate.
In some sections,
the channels
are only six feet deep.
♪
♪
It's in these
low-lying waterways
that anglers need to beware.
It's calm on top.
But there is great danger below.
They search for
just the right fishing hole...
♪
♪
♪
Hoping to catch a white bass.
Unaware that any second
they may trigger
an ambush attack.
All it takes is a passing boat.
(motor buzzing)
(splashing)
Asian carp jump en masse.
♪
♪
A reflex triggered
by anything that sounds
and feels to them like danger.
Carp in these parts can weigh
up to a hundred pounds,
but it's these
five or ten pounders
that are the big jumpers.
♪
No surprise for
seasoned anglers out here...
But the carp have broken noses
and knocked people unconscious.
In America,
they aren't popular for eating.
The Asian carp was introduced
to the united states
in the 1970s
to control weeds on fish farms.
Some escaped.
They multiplied.
And now,
they can be hard to escape.
The sound
of their own boat engine
keeps the fish coming.
They are the unwitting
conductors of an aerial ballet.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
Asian carp continue to spread
throughout the convergence
and farther north.
Some fishery experts
expect carp
to soon reach 31 states...
Taking over
the three rivers area
and 40% of the waterways in
the continental united states.
There's another invasion
about to take place here.
One of biblical proportions.
Narrator: Every year
in the middle Mississippi area,
one of summer's cooler days
triggers a landmark event.
♪
♪
Some mayflies live in the river
as nymphs for more than a year.
♪
Now they hatch with wings...
And surface all at once.
(fluttering)
♪
They weigh down
the branches of young trees
like a bumper crop
of graying leaves.
They're not just hanging out;
they have
important business here.
They slow down...
And one by one...
Become frozen in time.
At least on the outside.
On the inside,
a new creature is ready
to break out of the old skin.
♪
♪
This molting is their final
transition into adulthood.
♪
♪
♪
♪
At this point,
they are vulnerable.
And the blackbirds
and grackles know it.
♪
♪
They don't get meals
this easy every day.
♪
♪
This is a special feast
that happens
on just a few days each year.
Those mayflies who do make it
emerge with a brand-new body...
And ready to find a mate.
There's only one catch.
But it's a doozy.
This is the last day
of their lives.
Most will only live
for the next 24 hours.
No time to waste.
They must find a mate
in the frenzy,
and the clock is ticking.
♪
♪
♪
♪
There are obstacles to dodge.
But most won't be stopped.
Not today.
Up and down the Mississippi,
they create their own rush hour.
♪
♪
Their numbers grow so dense,
they can appear as clouds
on Doppler radar.
So little time for romance,
they mate on the fly.
The females then lay their eggs
in the river,
as many as 10,000 of them each.
They danced in the dark...
a party fit for
their final day on earth.
Now they return
from whence they came,
as corpses,
to the swelling waters
of the three wild rivers.
♪
The Ohio
adds its own super power
to this alliance of rivers.
By volume,
it is the biggest contributor
to the Mississippi river,
and she doubles
the discharge rate
to nearly a half million
cubic feet of water per second.
When the river is high,
it could fill more than
400 olympic swimming pools
every minute.
♪
The only thing
that helps temper the flow
is the season.
♪
It's getting close to fall.
♪
Temperatures begin to cool off.
And time to see
if the turtle eggs,
laid in the spring,
will finally produce young.
Narrator: The alligator
snapping turtle eggs
have been incubating
in the ground
for three months.
Now this.
They don't crack
like a bird egg.
♪
They are softer, more rubbery.
It takes a good bit
of pecking and clawing
to get out
and into their nest cavity.
As with many epic journeys,
the first steps can be
the most challenging...
And the stickiest.
They still get nutrients
from the egg sac
attached to their bellies.
When it's gone,
instinct drives them
to dig their way out.
♪
♪
♪
♪
They know which way to go.
But, like the wood ducks,
getting there alive
may be the biggest challenge
they ever face.
Their shells are already hard,
but that isn't enough
to protect them
against the many predators
that lurk nearby.
Especially
this menacing blue heron.
This time, a sunfish.
But it will eat a baby turtle.
The turtles
may grow to be giants.
But right now it seems like
everything is bigger
than this tiny
one-ounce creature.
The terrain becomes
an obstacle course.
(chirping)
♪
♪
Finally, entrance
into their new home.
Water never tasted so good.
♪
♪
Their chances
of long-term survival
just dramatically increased.
♪
♪
♪
On their side
they have camouflage...
And the ability to use
their snouts like snorkels...
And make like a living rock.
The return of winter
is now just a matter of time.
(screeching)
creatures on all three rivers
must prepare.
This muskrat works on a hut
that would make
a beaver jealous...
a giant mass of grasses,
mud, and cattails.
It's a sturdy home...
With just one flaw.
(honking)
it's not soundproof.
(honking)
(honking)
that becomes a problem
every year...
(honking)
when something
extraordinary happens.
(honking)
narrator:
There's a chill in the air
near mound city, Missouri.
Snow geese stop here on
the Missouri river each winter
to freshen up.
(honking)
they're migrating down
from the arctic,
headed to the gulf of Mexico.
(honking)
what starts as hundreds...
(honking)
soon grows to thousands.
(honking)
then tens of thousands
fill the sky.
(honking)
more noisy neighbors
than a muskrat can handle.
(honking)
by the week's end,
hundreds of thousands of geese
have flown in.
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
but not all will leave alive.
♪
Bald eagles
sometimes eat snow geese.
Those eagles,
just a few years old or younger,
don't have
their white heads yet,
but they still have an appetite.
The geese know the threat.
They panic.
(flapping and honking)
(honking)
(honking)
♪
(honk)
they leave a sick bird behind...
And with little hope.
(chirping)
(honk)
♪
(honk)
the goose is cooked.
♪
♪
The eagles fight for pieces
and argue over the spoils.
(chirping)
♪
(chirping and screeching)
(honking)
after a week-long stay...
The massive flock of geese,
and some ducks,
move on south.
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
(honking)
aerial calligraphy.
(honking)
(honking)
translated, it says,
'ta ta, Missouri.'
'we're off to find
warmer waters.'
meanwhile,
the Missouri river heads east
for a journey of its own.
It must rendezvous
with the middle Mississippi
and add its weight
to the three rivers area.
It carries with it
the kind of cold
that's hard to shake.
♪
♪
Yet, even in
the darkest depths of winter,
there is life.
♪
♪
And some of it
is having a lot of fun.
River otters
live on all three rivers.
This family can't get enough
of that slippery, slide-y,
snow-white surface.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
No need to hibernate
like other mammals.
River otters have
oily waterproof fur
to protect them from the cold.
♪
And frigid water?
Not a problem.
They can stay under the ice,
hunting for
three to four minutes.
And sometimes they need to.
They'll eat as much as 20%
of their body weight every day.
'wanna share?'
'well, okay.'
♪
And an otter family
that hangs together
plays together.
You don't usually think of
carefree days in winter.
But that's what these are,
in the three rivers area.
In this water,
there flows the essence
of America.
♪
Ultimately, it's all called
the Mississippi.
But that's water from
31 of the lower 48 states...
two-thirds of the country.
And it's the middle Mississippi
where most of that
comes together.
This special section
represents the country
in another way, too.
The 200 miles
from saint Louis...
Down past Cape Girardeau...
And to Cairo, Illinois
is a powerful and wild stretch
of the Mississippi.
♪
♪
And the animals seem to know it.
(honking)
they converge here, too...
For a taste of what
all these rivers can offer...
To live in this part of America,
where they, like the rivers,
can flow free,
roam wide,
and remain wild.