Outdoors Maryland; Outdoors Maryland Anniversary Show

I. Mean. Hi I'm Robert Lloyd. It was 10 years ago that Maryland Public Television made the first outdoors Marilyn. The program was so successful and so popular that outdoors Marilyn soon became an NPT favorite with many fans. Now hundreds of stories later we've dug into our archives to look back at some of our more memorable adventures collected from mountains to Marsh across Maryland. We hope you enjoy them.

They're totally different looking things and seeing what we thought is some pretty story and it's just what they look like something very a story which I don't know or like but with about any reasonable doubt that I could get at almost human body about. I've seen for all that never ever did get a good look at them that day they would be able to eat your feet if you put one on the string and left the land along the back with the vision of where they would go needed like a lizard around here you would have. To. Take. Them. To. The river. I.

Took the. Western Maryland home to one of the state's most bizarre forms of life. And aquatic salamander whose lineage reaches back 300 million years. Ed Thompson the big metal and Natural Heritage Program and wildlife photographer Robert Newman have come in search of a creature surrounded by myth and mystery. Local people call it a water dog but its real name is more ominous. Hellbender. You. Got. Your. Tickets. For. Four hours the two men search under the large rocks lining the river bed places where

hellbender is like to hide. Finally they're forced to give up. The river a little bit too high for to find these things mainly because it has to Turbin. You can't see the salamanders when you lift the rocks up. And. That's basically the problem. There's also too many places they could be when the river gets lower. There's they're concentrated in areas. So it becomes easier to find. So where. It's going to be very difficult if we would have a week without any rain the river would be low enough to have good success. A month is past the heavy rains of summer are over and the river is now low and clear. Perfect conditions for finding hellbender as. Well.

We wait to find out. When. We. Go. I. Can't get the rock I think. No. One home today. It sure is a good looking run. Well. These things are rare. With. A large rock but. You never know. There is a hellbender there's a hellbender under this rock Marjoe. I got to. Make. One. More devoted

if you want to photograph him we should have put him in. OK. But look at this. One. She got caught. Under Way. And biggest salamander in Maryland. And United States is one of its longer if this is actually. It. Looks just like a rock. I know if you ever see it. I just saw shaking your head. She's got about 16 inches here 16 18 inches. Wide. It gets away and we get a shot out of it. I was wondering if she was in a fight with another one year old it is still a water dog like a water dog. This is incredible. You never think something like that would be in this area and it's not like the other salamanders. I mean this tail is fleshy it's muscular

it's not the same person. Or they can have short bursts of speed. Nothing like fish but they they can move on pretty good. But they normally just walk on you know feed primarily on one. Leg. Supposedly they really love crayfish and they'll eat earthworms that wash it the strain straight fish if they can catch it using that dead or sick fish or dying. And they're completely non-poisonous right. Unharness very hard. You never think an animal like this would be in the river. I know it's incredibly hard a life to be in a river like this. A lot of people don't know they're here when they do see one they are quite shocked. I can look at it. OK. I've seen it. I've seen enough to go with it. It's. Spilling air all the way. It's just amazing. It could be coloration is just so effective.

Even walking by it and everything that was in that piece of wood or rock. Hellbender is a rare form of life. And in a lot of the terrain. There. Are still listed as endangered species and they should be. There's a lot of other habitat in the river that should be occupied. It's not. Right. Because some places are much more silvery than you know a. Little more. It's just an endangered animal it's one that we're worried about. So we want to keep track of it and see it and see how it's doing. After releasing the adult salamander it makes a remarkable discovery. A cluster of hellbender and. The sea with developing larvae inside.

Look at that. Little baby hellbender. I've never seen the eggs in this phase of the life cycle with quite excited. Well normally this would be a big hook. This this is this piece has broken off the main hunk. Normally this egg mass this group of eggs would be about five times the size a female lays 300 or more eggs. That these are in spite of the fact they broke off the main mast they're developing. They're not too far from hatching. I feel really excited. It's the first time we're seeing them develop that so and and fine in eggs. And so it's always good to know that they're reproducing it's saving a popular or you know we just haven't held banners in the stream that are all going to die someday is just not good. No knowing they reproduce and then they might be here while this is good.

I hope that the stream continues and clean and the population just continues to grow. It's an incredible thing. And one. Each year before the first blade of grass turns green new dreams began in Marilyn's thoroughbred horse country the rolling countryside that surrounds Baltimore is home to more than 200 thoroughbred horse farms. Here in the pre-dawn chill. New hope stirs as the first folds of the year drop onto the freshly laid Hey And with each new fall. A dream is reborn. The dream of a million dollar stakes winner. Meanwhile hundreds of stallions step up to their daily chores crossing the blood

line is one more calculated time passing on the speed the stamina and the will to win. To be a thoroughbred. A horse's blood line must be traceable to one of three stallions. The Darlie Arabian The dolphin Barb or the Byerly Turk. All of which began the line in 17th century England. Today's thoroughbred is the product of three centuries of inbreeding with one purpose in mind to breed a winner. The fastest horse around. By virtue of its pedigree its disposition and having proved itself a winner at the track. The standing stud stallion is the royal sire of the thoroughbred line commanding a lofty field for a few minutes work. With considerable amounts of money at stake. Inception is not left to chance though I believe in their setting. These forms are serious commercial operations.

Jay William Boniface owns Bonita farm in Dorling. A family run operation. The owner's son runs the breeding division pardon the youngest son doesn't stay in management. This is one of the need to find a mare. She happens to be the grand dad of one of the Kentucky Derby contenders for this year. We're going to be greener to repeated testimony. She's been checked and Noreen thinks today the best time for us to braider. The stallion covers so many mares up 16 there's where. We take a lot of caution because he's these out of commission and things are bad we're going to put restraints on her so she can kick the stallion will mount her right now. Economic situation is such that a breeding business is really bad. For instance it's worse if it has stayed for twenty five thousand

now fans with three five hundred is one of the best value of the. Day. What we do is we'll come back to offer of sound her at about 14 days or less made it our relation and then we'll be able to tell whether we have one in there or not. Dispatcher. That's a. And about two or three days you see a heartbeat. The ultrasound machines made our job a lot easier. Now I would guess work out if. You have a very full day and that operation starts at 6 o'clock and we begin training 7 try to run four sets on the hour between 7 and 11. I've of horses that really is the greatest of all. They have

some very limited that of heart. Harry Reid has the desire to run. A lot of people talk about the style that they need for a horse. How did he get the horse. But there is a big element here psychologically. Relax. I had a film years ago and was working there one morning and whistled to her. She broke like a fresh horse. The next time I ran her I said to the jockey look when you get ready to make your move be sure you've got a hole when you whistle for take off. She won three races on the road. Racing thoroughbreds takes a lot of land and the competition for it is considerable. Atlanta Fong was founded by a horseman fleeing the encroachment of developers 60 years ago. It's the site of a unique indoor racetrack. Tom Voss is the current owner of that brand.

Many of these kind of barns in America let alone Malen. This barn was built around 1930. Thirty two the story has it that every carpenter within a 50 mile radius working on it. 60 cents an hour whatever the going rate was like they build it like in a month or what or where it grew a mile around. One at a time we have everybody with a racehorse. Twenty mile radius. We're training our horses on the ground Flarm is about 700 acres. It comes from Long Island where they were big in the foxhunting there but that was when New York City and all the suburbs started to spread to with the Boston it was in Long Island. And they came here for the Vasanthi to build a place here. And a lot of other people came to Luckily around here a lot of people with a bigger farm that landed some preservation. I would call for selling the development rights. So they're protected for you know forever hopefully

allow some of this to go on. Ray read from Blackhorse and the Blackhorse is not the face of racism. And now in the open news right. Both. And we've got to that Hogan in summertime. You know we basically go anywhere that a referee for. All thoroughbreds are destined for the draft. This is where the major money is right. But there is another side of this racing line one that harkens back to the tradition of Charlie Fenway train steeplechase horses at his farm in Butler just twenty five minutes from downtown Baltimore. My primary interest is in steeplechases for training and riding is concerned. What we have here is a commercial operation a vast majority of the workers on this place are owned by other people and you're paying us. Up to 45 hours a day to take care of thoroughbred

breeding or training people take through and lends itself and land with way very much suburban living. We've had some problem with the land value is escalating at a rapid rate. That puts a lot of pressure on our industry. Stay in this kind of area because of land values and have not taken that train thoroughbred racing with and outlaws people chasing sport have run a lot of hunt are out in the open. Maryland is famous for its timber races running each weekend in April. These four races culminate with the Maryland hunt considered the toughest timber race in America. The first meet of the season is held at Atlanta for just one more. Race here. And going on probably 19 45 is like like a lot of people are just getting their horses ready give them an easy run.

Race. The Maryland grand national It's the second of the Triple Crown temperatures. It's been run each spring since 1898. It's held on Charlie front with Tom turf the Grand National has been run here in the valley since the end of World War 2. It is a classic point. The point goes over six different properties from your area. There's no other reason to quite liking. The thoroughbred horse culture in Maryland is facing some tough times and it survived the

pressures of development rising land values lack of investors and the declining interest in thoroughbred racing off track betting may give the industry a needed boost but it's viability in the Maryland countryside remains to be seen. One thing is sure the thoroughbred is here to stay. Three centuries of breeding will not disappear overnight as long as there are fast horses. There will be races to run bets to place money to win. And each spring a new crop of foals will hit the ground running. Up. Down to this guy here. On You're right coming up here. Nice little park right there. All right I'm going to take a little bump here guys. He. Told me he's just got energy and it's old energy it's energy it's been around a long time and I get a lot

when I come up from the city you know and Robin up here I get close to the river. I'm not going to give a hoot. You know I'm going I'm driving my car. Let's go you know and to pass over the ribbon I'm always wants no looking at it and I just I get turned on about it. You know the Potomac has great. History and energy. Intertwined and one of America's greatest rivers is George Washington so and a passage to the west. Thomas Jefferson said it was worth the trip across the Atlantic. Just one here is one of my favorites it's called finesse fashion and that's all undelete move around the water. It's it's tops. Whites probably favorite color. Back to Mark Kovach is drawn by their own GIBBERD strength beauty and small amount that's where over 10 years Koba has guided

float fishing expeditions on the Potomac. It's a trip as unique as its leader is. The starting point is just above Harpers Ferry West Virginia and a narrow twisting section of the river. Hold the needle is. A. Whole. Nother couple of good pockets on. Either side. Michael Hicks from fishing as a guide. I'm turning your sports on watching them catch fish. Because when you call the shot out and they can make a shot and you're holding them in a position so they can do it just like you do. In fact it's better because you've transferred this information you've transferred this now and bear enjoying it too and I enjoy it. As it slices through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Potomac offers prime bass habitat

whitewater rapids rocky ledges. And be quiet. If you have any experienced people in the boat I don't think I've got a bad word for it. But you know like you put people know about you it's really easy to put your hand against the big guy. That's a big fish or two. About. That one really brought me back to spend fishing last year there another scramble on there he was. A. Little. Guy. Paul. BRADLEY What people don't know the most about our trips is how to find fishing. Them like fish and stuff. You don't have any idea where to go about it in flowing water or fish are always going to be where the most amount of food goes by and it requires the least amount effort for them to be there.

All right. So in a little and we're spots little eddies off to the side behind ledges in front of ledges and of places where the water breaks. Current split you know where slow water meets fast water and those are the targets so a lot of that is hitting those targets. Come on. Maybe. A small mouth will fight as hard as any fish its size botch allows his clients to keep only two fish a day one of which must be over 18 inches. But he encourages the release of every fish. Fishing is the most genteel of the woods. I mean you can have all the pleasures of the hunt. You know you get your gear ready you get your tackle together you know you've got to you've got to map out where you're going to go. You know you go into the river and then you start hunting. You know you look for the spots where the fish are going to be you understand their environment. Right you set up for it. You make a toss into the area and then you have to trick them. You know it's not like pulling up a gun and you've got to

trick them. They've got to take the bait. Right. You've got to set the hook. You've got to fight where they always have the chance to get away. And then when you get into the boat you don't have to make the kill. In fact his efforts go well beyond what Maryland Department of Natural Resources officials believe is critical to saving the rivers fished vastly improved water. Combine that with the state mandated five fish a day limit as the Potomac responding well. The bridge into Harpers Ferry once carried John Brown on a crusade to end slavery. That bridge is gone but new ones carry commerce and commuters above the POBox wrath. And trying to reach people. And. Get shots on their right to. Right.

I'll. Be all watching. That's great advice cover it up. You know I've got a thing I always get when I get my clients out I'm real big about kissing your first fish and I kiss your first fish and then you let them go and then they know you're friendly and they get to be more cooperative I think it brings good luck. I don't know I guess it's a sign of affection. Much time when somebody brings you a lot of joy and pleasure from it you know and even though you may I guess they get a little certainly bothers them some in the process but you kind of like to pay your respects you know kind of give them a little show a little affection to the kids. And I never has to fish. That is a beautiful view.

It's. A colorful Cumberland daughter signals the onset of another western Maryland. It also draws one's eye to an area. Locals call the rugged Huntsman nature. It's jagged mon 270 million years ago. Here are some who view the police differently than most as perhaps a chapter in their life. For them the dare these rocks whisper is the seduction of. Some like Gary Green. And Dharam Spence. I think we must find its way through something really hard maybe at the edge of where buildings. Get top or sit more looking

back a bit that's what it's all about. Give an argument going. In other words. Sometimes they get nervous and start singing to him and since. You do. That. Nervousness I think I'm not talking nervousness. Risk arean Darrow's task is to climb one hundred fifty feet of loose and crumbling vertical rock with a menacing summit overhead. As far as anyone knows no one has attempted to climb this difficult route before. There's another friend in the world of rock climbing a successful ascent a wards of Heimer the honor of naming his route to the top. So we climb a new route and give it a name usually something that's happened one time I get stung by a bee. So we call it a bee sting. One time a copperhead literally went right over my boot. So we called it Copperhead. So we'll climb this and see

what happens then. Give it a name when we get finished. Putting just about around that as you might say the guardian angel of rock climbers is good safe with something that won't be taken for granted today by either man. Some of the equipment I tell you about these ones right here they're my favorites. They're called friends. While the way they call them friends they really are from what you can do in Iraq opposed to some of these other equipment. Is it Kam's that it allows you to really attach it quickly. You can see checking to see the is real tight. You know this is saying that we have a long line of climbers all but know. There are two areas here where climbers can stop and regroup.

Everything from here on up is loose on the left side the right side is a real solid wall. The day's ascent will proceed in three segments or pitches. Gary will lead the middle pitch. Darrell the first and last. The first pitch after a half hour and by far the easiest is nearly complete. Now. Up and over. There's a point where you finally come to a spot where you're really scare mouth instantaneously dries up and then you find yourself. It's like a wide angle lens on the camera. Everything gets the big guys blow up real. I start you know on every piece of your body shaking where you know what's happened. Every move and it's a kind of faith that I have in everyday life. That is all that is right. That's when. I realize.

That every day walking down the street or working for and. That is the work that's the ultimate point I'm I guess in a way you look around it right there. I tell you what fried my calves on that one. You're going to appreciate this climb down if you follow my route climb. But after your body gets up first you want to do is slap his had it's a great climb. Then you start talking about all the different elements of life. Maybe it was rock bottom or where you didn't approach just right or you make a really good team. And you say why did it this way and I did it that way. And I reflect on it. Yeah I trust the person immensely. I wouldn't to doing it. I wouldn't bought into it. It wasn't a trust factor to be on. It's like a relationship you have to trust that person without question. I think I sleep for.

Two thirds of the time it's finished. The last picture is the most difficult for two reasons. First the climbers have already exhausted a lot of energy and second the challenging. Over at the top. All right. He's ready. Ready. I'm ready. Play on. I'm good climbing. I would say the most dangerous part of this flight today will be somewhere or at the top all overhangs just a little. And also we lose our praxis praxis goes down lower but as we get up top. It's going to be two fingers. So that's probably the part of the Opera hopeful about. Tom Eleuthera. Gary I don't see them out here to talk because every time I fly and after I get to the top and I'll get back to the bottom you know the rock should be changed. It's still there it's just it's just the environment that I live in and play and it just happens to be more

vertical as horizontal. I got you one some time to just a little bit more to not that. Yeah there you go. There you go. Stay within yourself. I really think you can do it. How about hand-hold. Is there nothing you can really put your hand on. Not really. Not enough to hold yourself not to get up there take a quick and then come back down to I just did OK. And I just have. To be a super man to make it after being the second man up on the previous pitch. Darryl has had little time to rest on already working on this pitch for 45 minutes. His arms ache as he searches for cracks in the rock strong enough to hold his place secure enough to support him in case he falls.

For that crap. Here we get it. All right. So tough. Don't pity yourself. No. There's one. Ha Ha Ha Ha. Ha ha. Nice try. Here. Just just to feel this. Way just to meet this challenge and deal just. Living on the edge. Of the high. Kind of weird. I think with some people like to call it is an adrenaline junkie. I don't know that the jokey idea. I mean I don't crave all that but I definitely go out look for it. Let me know when you want some slack. When we get to that point and we're all fine and you're kind of half dangling you don't know what you're going up or going to fall down and you really get the question. You know why am I

doing this. To a big guy. I. Gary I think I'm going to take a fall. Maybe it's like. Oh god I'm. I got that feeling just kick out of the god. Well that was a trip. Down the plane. Luckily Darrow's pros held. The fall and collision with a rock rebel but he's none the worse for wear. Gary now attacks the cliff to finish the climb.

I'll tell you what. I have a whole new respect for what little round earth. Since Darrow's already wedged equipment in the rock. Gary can concentrate so. We're can see my power. Within ten minutes he closes on the summit. Hi there I'm very. Slack. Gary. Good job team and strong. I'm up. That's the craziest stuff I've ever done. I really don't think I could do it. But Darrell did the hard part. He got the Spurs already preset So I basically just strong armed it up.

Remember I got a lot of drag. OK. Climb by. Hand. All right part of me that thing way I was just thinking about how I was going to hit. I was just worried about my my back hit and saw my arm head and saw and so I tried to hit my foot on the rock when I did I spun around. I just kind of crazy I was like OK I didn't die. Hello. I. Tell you what that's a thrill that's a thrill. You name it since you took the worst of the. What's up with put a name on that Clyde would call it yellow. Since I was the weenie that couldn't make it up. The trees are yellow. So it kind of goes with the season there Gary. I we may math that they may have to tell our children why we named this one yellow.

Now they are still. On the surface it all seems quite simple to the north. Morrow to the south. Virginia if you're a crabber look hard to the east or west. Find another marker and know for sure which side you're on. But beneath the surface it's not that simple. There lies a tangled mass of regulations resentment and a history of violence. Forty five minutes by fast boat from Crisfield isolated by the waters of the Chesapeake is Marylands only inhabited offshore island. First settled in the 16 hundreds. The residents of Smith Island have long depended on the

surrounding waters for their livelihood. Resenting outside interference. The waterman of the island have long followed the seasons in the ever changing dynamics of the bay. The Virginia State line cuts across the southern marshes of Smith Island going to Maryland Waterman into the centuries old territorial dispute between the two states over the resources of the Chesapeake. The original line is granted to Cecil Calvert and 16 32 has twice been moved once in the time of George Washington and again in the late 18 hundreds. When oystermen and oyster police from both states fought over the immense wealth that lay on the bottom of the bay. During the years of the oyster warms the waters around the line ran red with blood. At the time the uninhabited marshes and shallow waterways of Smith Island were considered worthless choked during the summer months with aquatic grasses a poor

bottom for oysters to the arbitrators of the day. It seemed a safe place to position the line. That as the oyster population decline and the crab replaced it as the money drop. The underwater Meadows became valuable territory being the favorite hiding place for the malting Blue Grass disputes along the line erupted again this time over crabs. In 1900 a teenage boy from Tyler Durden was shot in the back by the Virginia police were grabbing below the line. Remembered by the islanders as if it happened yesterday. The incident said. The principal method of catching crabs on Smith Island is scraping. Generations. The watermen have dragged their scrapes across the grassy bottoms going after the valuable soft crabs and peelers that hide there. If they pull up some hard

grabs or jimmies and scrapes and so much the better for the days take. The lion is such an unnatural boundary that the crabbers can easily turn into lawbreakers just for pursuing their catch. The remote Waterman's communities always don't like any kind of outside interference and what they do in this case it's a rather acute interference with a state line cutting across the lower end of their island. If they want to utilize those waters then they have to get a Virginia license and they both have to know the laws and requirements of two separate states to work in their local waters. They don't really care what state water is they're working in all they're trying to do is crap. Each side has its own agencies of enforcement. Maryland's natural resources police are based in Greece. The biggest thing with crab scrapers Virginia transcriber is not allowed to keep a hard Rab's they have to throw back

in a bad scrape or keep those crabs and so consequently the smell of hours when they get out or to grab scrape. Watch them try and save their hard crabs and spoke about what was like. So. The real thorn in the side of Smith Islanders is the Virginia Marine patrol officer out of 10 gear. Peter Crockett Jouni as he's known by the Waterman has been a fixture on the line for a dozen years. Vote. For. Me. For. The most time. You have to stay right on it. You're got law breakers on both side of your bottom up here. We got them down Tangier too. Yeah why not. When I first took a smith almost had me in a diamond shape I'm all boats my.

I think your idea was try to rob me of that break the law or break that back off a job like this. You've got to treat everybody like when I started picking them. That's when they get talking. It's an early very early August morning in Tyler in the Smith Island town closest to the line. The crabbers check their Peeler floats for those that have shed over night collecting the soft crabs for shipment. Later that day they head out in Firstlight to the shallow waters of tilers creek and hawgs neck. Just a few minutes ride through the waterways of the southern island here they'll spend the rest of the day scraping for programs flirting with the line. The boats are equipped with single scrapes and hydraulic rigs to help catch.

These rigs are illegal in Virginia. Only handful of scrapers can be licensed to crab there. As they circle about the creek within sight of their homes the true source of their resentment becomes apparent. Danny Bradshaw remembers how it was always better and worse. Getting ready for our back door was the way we go all the way down averaging about halfway between here and day. We grab your voice but they come up. They slow down a little bit. Let us get up for to jail on it now. This place guarded like box. As the morning wears on the boats gradually move north in anticipation of the daily arrival of Virginia police. Today the police come not by boat but by plane.

All the boats turned back at full throttle across the line. Like a lot of big cameras you Robert GED might be in there. You know is over by. The government come in force half way and so goes the daily drama of life on the line everyone involved doing their job and their conscience and feelings dictate. Just trying to make a living. Rules of the game. Elsewhere

there have been legal challenges. The waterman of the island won the right to crab in Virginia though there are still restrictions and the constant threat of increased fee for the privilege. A privilege that Smith Islanders view as their God given right. The resentment is real and the potential for violence remains especially as the resources of the bay dwindle and the economy of the island and the way of life is threat. One solution is to begin to look at the bay's resources as a single entity. William Goldsborough of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. We have one Chesapeake Bay population of blue crabs moves throughout the bay and in the jurisdictions of two states and yet the two states have different regulations on crabbing. We ought to have as much as possible uniformity in the regulations on the fisheries. Throughout the bay. I'm not sure if there's a way to resolve that in the short term but I hope we can do it without some kind of a crab war like we've had in the past.

A postscript to this story on the morning of Sunday September 20th. Jouni Crocket passed away. He died as he wished out on his boat on the job. All who knew him will not soon forget. The inspector general. When the dog days of summer hit the big down the lazy Potomac offers little solace or inspiration. What if your sport is Whitewater the place to be is just a few miles upstream for a classic street that's tough to be. Running with the big dogs at the Great Falls race. One of four in the adrenaline racing series The Great Falls race is by far the shortest and the most intense. With an average run time of seventy five seconds. The course drops fifty five

vertical feet. And then in a spectacular plunge over the spout. A 22 foot waterfall. Running of the race or just running the forwards is crucially dependent on water. No actually I've never done the Great Falls where but I've run the ball. But. What's the falls like. Well depends on the level. Fortunately I went down a foot. Over the last 12 hours so I'm a lot happier about that than I would have been if it were 3.1. I think that the hardest part is the spout just because the angle and the kind of trickiness of the water a lot of people don't think that but I think that's about the hardest part. See.

Me. Now. Timing is all timing. Get

one. Good boater can make a classics run look easy. But a classics rapper assesses a severe penalty for the smallest mistake. At. Least from what.

I. See. I. Sure. I. Don't. Get. The. But then there's Eric Jackson. Summer is coming out of course but. That's. Not no promise. I can that. Nothing seems about I don't want this from that I don't

I. There were over 50 entrants in the Great Falls race this year 37 of them ran the course in less than 80 seconds. 80 seconds of pure adrenaline. Early on that steamy Sunday morning. People who like to feed birds often consider squirrels to be public enemy number one. A squirrel does not get up get dressed go to work. Squirrel have one thing to do all day long. One mission that's to illegally and dishonestly break into our bird feeders. These bird lovers begrudge squirrels their seed and they wage a valiant but ultimately vain fight to keep furry thieves out of their feeders. But there's another approach one espoused by Washington DC resident Iris Rothmann. Instead of fighting squirrels she's decided to enjoy them.

I realized one day when I was trying to keep the squirrels away from the bird feeder the squirrels were actually far more interesting than the birds. Birds were pretty you know that the squirrels certainly had it all in terms of personality Rothmans backyard is essentially a squirrel community center complete with food housing games and athletic challenges. I've planted two hazelnut trees over there because hazelnuts are one of their very favorites. Put up squirrel houses because my trees are fairly small. I set up a whole lot of feeders to supplement their natural food. I have. 6 different feeders that are primarily for the squirrels three of which are bird print so that those pesky birds can't feel all. Yes we're all thinking. And then there are some that are unisex. Both the birds and the squirrels eat out and then a couple that are just for the birds.

Rothmann a freelance writer editor who works at home caters to the squirrels as part of her daily routine. In the morning I get up read the paper scroll fricassee a normal morning working up in her second story office Rothmann is surrounded by more squirrels. They come to feast in terrarium like feeders in the windows. Crows are really wonderful companions for people who work at home. They're a great distraction. For example one of the things that's really fun to watch. I have a squirrel proof feeder where the Domo thread and it's hanging up in the air. This the squirrels have figured out attitude if they climb up the holder and reach out they can jump into another feeder built like a gumball machine. Also test squirrels problem solving ability fill it up with nuts and the squirrels have to turn a wheel to get the nuts to come up and beginning. They slip it bite it try to knock it over. Vengefully will

turn the wheel by accident. And once I get that first turn of the wheel. So they figure it out very quickly and just start turning and hazelnuts like for kids enjoy watching these antics and Rothmann has frequent after school visitors. You can. Get. I got. One friend named after me. Little Iris who's seven you know who loves to come over here and she'll come and fill all my feeders she'll put out water for the squirrels. She'll sit for hours. She's actually learned to sit still so that she can watch the squirrels and empathy with other creatures which often children I think have trouble with all of this feeding going on. Rothmann spends a lot on her squirrel habit more than one hundred dollars a month on sunflower seeds and fancy shelled pecans and walnuts. In fact Rothmann buys so much seed that her local supplier delivers it in 100

pound lots. Not surprisingly Rothmann ranks as one of the store's top customers. Oh I heard about number one a squirrel feeding goes over in Silver Spring. Bon Flieger a retired wildlife biology professor also goes through his share of seed but his squirrels have to earn their food. We don't want lazy squirrels around here. So they had to do something to get what we give them. And I don't call it their work out later. The squirrels must do a tightrope walk across a wire that's an eighth of an inch thick. Then they hang from their hind legs to pull up little buckets filled with sunflower seeds. When the first cup is empty they brave a longer run along the wire to get to cops that still have food. They didn't take very long to master this. Within a week I had them for farming. They can smell the sunflower seeds and they know there's something down there.

So that's how they discovered they have to pull it out. And the high wire act isn't as hard as it looks. If you're a squirrel it's really what they do in the wild they're hanging down from the branches of the trees to feed on things and. Jumping from one tree to another and having to negotiate pine branches so they're not doing anything unusual in this world. In fact backyard feeders are a good way to learn more about squirrel behavior which seems to boil down to the pursuit of food mates and proper respect. World rank depends on age. The higher ranking aware of the older squirrels when you see the squirrels chasing each other. It's usually a dominant squirrel chasing a lesser ranked animal just to make sure that he knows or she knows her place him like chasing is also part of the mating ritual. If you see a whole lot of squirrels facing one life then it's amazing faith chasing a female aerial chases and death defying leaps are made

possible in part by the squirrels tale which is actually a balance organ. The tail is used as a balancing organ when they are running through the treetops and if you watch them on the small branches that trail is very important and they fall out of a tree. They always land on their bellies be a paperwork started as an act of passion. The antics of squirrels and other creatures so entranced Leandy doer that they build a glassed in addition to their Waldorf home just to watch Wild Life. Every morning about 6:30 we have a cup of coffee a bag or we sit there for about an hour and watch the birds and watch the squirrels. We have seen as many as 20 people squirrels at one time catch as many as 40 different species of birds over the course of the day Dewar's says. The secret of keeping squirrels out of bird feeders is to create separate dining areas. I think a better approach instead of having the squirrels compete with the birds and the bird feeders is to feed them separately in an area where they can have their food and the birds

can live in peace with themselves. Nor has even devised a squirrel feeder that foils squirrels annoying habit of gnawing on their own feeders. It's the world's first squirrel proof squirrel feeder. Meaning that that's me that is still the cat eat it he can eat with the inside of it and squirrel lovers say the money spent on extra peanuts is more than made up by the pleasure that squirrels bring. I. Encourage people to feed squirrels and invite them into their into their backyard because they're very entertaining and they're sort of going away. It's more like Fred. 5:30 a.m.. The Ocean City and. A fleet heads out into the Atlantic for the beginning of the 23rd annual White Marlin open. In all 237 boats with twelve hundred fishermen aboard. Many of them

world class anglers. From this elite group. One boat stands out as decidedly different from all the rest. The caravan. Of Bertram 13:5 operated by Carlos Bentos of Annapolis the only man in the history of the tournament to attempt to compete. Along. Without the help. Of A. Normally. Carlos never takes anyone with him onboard the Caribbean. He kindly made an exception for the camera crew from outdoors Maryland. One of the reasons that 30 feet long is because I'm with people on the bike. And the kind of people in the restaurants. You help customers were your. Employees. I think this is the only way you can be isolated. That way maybe just becoming a monk.

Other boats have captains to find the fish. One or two mates to prepare the right bait and rig the tackle and several languages to reel in the catch. Point. In my case they are different because they do the three things and one I'm the captain I'm the mate. And eventually hopefully I will be the angler. Without the sophisticated fishing age of more expensive boats satellite images cameras under the hull and other high tech equipment. Karlos must rely on his own experience. Today he has a hunch that white marlin will be found eighty five miles out in the Atlantic near a lump on the ocean floor. Carlos has detected a subtle change in water. A Whiter Shade of blue that indicates a warmer current. Condition known to attract white marlin and other game fish. For bait. Carlos uses a ballyhoo without a skirt which he trolls on the surface of the water in a manner that makes it appear to be swimming. I like to fish with light back cold 20 pump bass line. Which makes it much

more challenging. Then. The. Effect of Gotcha. Now I work. Miles. The Caribana trolls on autopilot patiently waiting for a hungry white to come looking for a snack. When nothing bites. I think they're thankful for being quiet them being reflected in. An. Introspective. Dog trying. To find yourself. What were common. What are we doing. What we want to do. We plan to do. What we have done then we do then. You. Say a time for reflection. Re nice I enjoy it. Suddenly the adrenaline pumps. Off white marlin is on the line. You can see the first order of business is for Karlos to remove the other lines and bait so that he won't get tangled in them.

Then he marches around so that he can circle back to the exact spot just in case other Marlyn are in the area see where they are. I know the memory of years. Carlos must keep his line taught at all times or the white may throw off his hook. Only by keeping the right amount of pressure on the line. Can he really lean towards the boat. Too much pressure on the line might break or the hook pull out. When a body. Is. You in touch. With a little luck

Carlos who's able to take the Marlins. And then remove the hook from its bill. After making sure that Marlyn has oxygen in its gills. He releases it back into the sea. Perhaps they will meet again in another day. Megan. The. Dog and release no broken mouth. I would guess probably £45. Bayefsky. Perhaps. That's an average fish. I'm. Good. I was like. To. Come to. The. Fish. Actually fun. Carlos announces his catch and release to the tournament committee but they already are release on operation. I'm OK because I got these people. To. Go.

With. Me. Like. You. I think that's Carlos sometimes documents his catches on his camcorder. Normally I would take the Luigia if the guy to be. On camera. I think I'm a bit on. Camera. But if you try and face up him. He's nice. He's a nice. Moment. Couldn't come. In the winter days. Come and go. During his three days of tournament fishing. Carlos has caught five white marlin including a pair of doubleheaders to Marlin hooked at the same time. Four of five of them were tagged. All were released 330 and the fishing deadline for the day is over. The competitors return to the tournament headquarters in Ocean City. A tradition among the fishermen coming back to board. To fly

the flag with the catch of the day. In this case though we can see we are living on the fly in the day. And then the people around I know it looks like the guy. This is the white marlin open. Obviously the heaviest prize money goes to the white marlin. When Bill fish categories we award prize money to the heaviest white. And blue we also give release points awards for the most current which is the most prestigious award any good anger would tell you this. You know I can catch you is better than I can get lucky to you have the money. Not only did Carlos win top honors as the best angler best mate and best captain. He also won the top boat award one of the most prestigious awards in the tournament which is usually presented to entire boats and crews. I think I'm going to be enjoying my my five minutes of fame. Because I don't think such. I've been. So.

Linked that you live with years but dissipated and this gentleman. And I mean more than 100 years. And I think I'm the best of them. I was probably the luckiest. Guy. Until the early years of World War Two hunters who were lured by large numbers of migrating solar array that stopped the jugs Bay on the Patuxent and early fall to fatten up on rice grass seeds. The hunters harvested the birds in unbelievable numbers 1500 birds taken in a day. Fifty thousand stars in a season. They came for play. They didn't come for plenty. They want try to push around it in a boat ride it's hard work as you could do. Would you say that just about as hard as I've ever done I tell anybody pushers like John McKenzie and Leroy Harper pulled a specially designed boat through the tall Rice grass when a star was spotted the pushier called out

Mark and the shooter shot. Most hunters were crack shots. A few were otherwise engaged. I killed a man to death and I think he must have been drunk. Now when I see you shoot he set him off from a shot hole with my old man. I don't hold it I don't rattle the ball bouncing up and down. I mean when you're doing your own shot at one time he said no I didn't do the shooting at the bottom. Nah nah nah ill post all day. And I'm here till I pay for everything. You pay for everything from me. In May he went up and got in the car and went away in a left nothing. Today early fall. Fog shrouded mornings on the Patuxent River still offer an opportunity to catch sight of the secretive sorry. But sightings are more and more rare.

Greg Kernes park naturalist with the Patuxent River Park as part of the Maryland National Capital Park and planning commission is studying these birds to learn more about their little known habits once they've entered both quantiles they can't accept they really all have the inclination to find that small opening again when it's elevated above their eye level. And you've got them. One survey across the two files and having a double funnel system like this is ensuring your calculus is something that. I played around with for a couple of years just trying to keep raccoons out of these things. We were able to catch more birds you know going from you know from from 50 and five years to now you know over a hundred last year and just a one two month period. And these these lead fences are direct fences here. These are it's two foot high chicken wire one inch mesh that guides the birds because of their natural inclination is not to fly. They wander along the fence seeking out the source of the sound system which is a good check that have tuberculosis.

Mike harams so wildlife research biologist for the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center helps Carnes with his work. We are really just scratching the surface about the basics about sore rails. Greg has devised devise traps in which to ban these birds in numbers that haven't been accomplished in the past. We've also examined hundreds of birds to determine sex and age criteria from Krampus samples. We're monitoring weights to see how the quality of this habitat is in terms of the birds to refuel gain weight especially Lippett which are formed from high carbohydrate seed sources so that they can continue their migration in a timely way. Saurus have made unique adaptation it does not allow them to prosper in the marsh. I think of course the legs are very long but probably the longest for any bird or they're small size just about done. But the total length is

probably almost a quarter of their body length here and short bill for picking up small seeds like wild rice which is what they come here to feed on. And their markings are totally cryptic. The brown blends in with the mud. Little white highlights in the feathers blended with the breakup they're outlined in the reflections in the mud the shiny mud surface. They have bold vertical barring on the sides of the flanks that blend in beautifully with the vertical lines of the marsh the shadowing effect it creates. They have a small tail that is triangular shape when it's closed and little white patches underneath very similar to the animals like a cottontail rabbit or a white tailed deer. The actual gap is about one inch of the rib cage. So flexible and so they can squeeze the tiniest gaps. So the saying skinny as a rail. See where it came from. After the birds are banded most of them are released. Some are set aside so that later radio transmitters can be tied to their bodies. This is a very delicate operation.

It's good to see him on the spot like that but they're good candidates are radio telemetry methods using a 1.8 gram transmitter each. Each bird is individually marked with a different frequency. The radios really are the simplest type of location device. We can triangulate to find out where the bird is after the transmitter is attached. The birds are released one at a time in an enclosed environment to see if the string harness is too tight. I think this is all normal in the bird. I mean as far as party of. Course it doesn't interfere at all with flight whatsoever. The word bird is complete. Here is. The birds are placed in a holding cage for further observation. After a final check several hours later the birds will be taken back to their capture site and released. We want to know how well the birds survive out here. Nobody nobody has ever studied ever will we don't know

how long we stay here on this area. How long does it take them to refuel to gain the fat reserves to make the next migratory hop from this area. The radio transmitters have a range of approximately a quarter of a mile. And we found that we could we could actually drive right up with a boat with the birds and locate them within probably 50 meters. We found out that the birds are basically sedentary and that they stay in a small section of marsh where we're basically they gain weight. The birds seem to be extremely well protected from predators in this dense vegetation and we haven't recorded immortality. You don't have high precision looking at that type of an issue because we have 20 birds our species. We hope to improve our sample size from last year we caught over 800 of rails and I fully expect them to be popular over a thousand this year by expanding the project and using some of the same habitats. We had great success in

banning the Birge top last year but we've been unpleasantly surprised this year by the fact that we've only caught about 400. So about half of the birds we had this time last year. On harams hope these mysterious birds will help them answer troubling questions about the changing dynamics of the jug Bay Marsh. For instance the once abundant Rice grass that attracts Saurez and other birds here is in decline. It's being replaced by other marsh plants. What will this mean for the future health of the ecosystem. No one knows or has asked questions like this before. The thrill of breaking new ground inspires them to repeatedly take to the marsh. This excitement and concern has triggered funding from the Maryland ornithological society coil's unlimited the Chesapeake Bay Trust and Prince Georges Community College so that their work can continue. You talk to most biologists out there are these birds are gone from these wetlands and you know that's a shame that

that's happened. It's terrible. You know we've caused things to change that much in their habitat and their environment to cause these ones come birds the decline. We think that the freezer stop over the marshes is really not that abundant in the flyway and that there are probably certain critical areas where the birds stopped that probably are worthy of protection or management of what they're eating at this time. We need to recognize that we need to find better stewardship of the quality of those habitats in the future if we hope to preserve this bird. We want to know more about this bird and how we can save it. But if it's declining it's obviously something else going on in this environment the wetlands that need to be examined and find out what we're doing to them and how we can reverse the trend. So. One part of the puzzle the logical puzzle. Captain John Smith first spited in 16:1. Of 1300 acre tree studded paradise carving a sharp way

into the Chesapeake. Now almost 400 years later nothing remains of poplar. Nothing but fragments of its natural past. The Chesapeake is reclaiming poplar slowly. Deliberately inescapably. But this tiny shard of disappearing sand boasts a history rich in fact and fiction of legend and. Originally called pro-police Island poplar was once expansive. To the north Lake Kent Island. To the east compeers neck. And then Tilmann isolated yet teeming with wildlife. Poplar was a microcosm of the Eastern Shore ecosystem. Biologist Jan Reise. Say that all life on top wrong in our times is essentially the same as on the mainland. Here particularly there were a lot of nesting birds since it was sort of a safe.

Haven free of predators. But since 1877 the Chesapeake relentless pursuit of poplar has won out by 1937 the western shore line was gone badly eroded the main island broken into in 1970. Poplar was no more than six jagged sand bars peeking through the bay's green waters. Today most of them are gone swallowed up yet poplars colorful history survives. Biologist Reese and colleague Dawn Merritt occasionally visit the island to document its disintegration. Jan Reese has followed poplars demise since childhood say in his late teens early 60s pop wrong. Cost me. Thinking. We'd land. On trees. High. And. Most. And we saw our. Brothers stand. Or more. I would say to me the last hop around. Perhaps can be. Claiming. The death of. Friend.

I. Spent many many years here. Studying. Life. Really. Makes. These. People. Pop round disappear. All these organisms in life. Disappear also. In July of 1990 we docked a boat over on that little island. And walked across to where we are now. We discovered the cormorant colony and treat some of these trees that are laying in the water. 70 feet high. In less than two years. This much of this island has disappeared. In Chesapeake Bay are rapidly disappearing from. This one. Bob Brown is going to be probably the latest one to go on. It looks like it's got a couple more years like. Sharpstown. Disappeared in the late 50s. They're now in Jamestown are also disappearing. The island has always Loide the uncommon to its shores.

The interesting thing about pop around is that it's had some strange events in history it used to be owned at one time by the grandson of Charles Carroll of Carrollton to sign the Declaration of Independence. And he had a money making scheme to sell black cat fur to the Chinese. They put an ad in a local Easton paper and purchased several hundred maybe even a thousand black cats and turn them loose on the island to breed in hopes that he could then go in and trap the progeny and sell the fur. Unfortunately Mother Nature didn't cooperate that winter. The bay froze and the cats decided to run to the mainland and he lost all of his breeding stock past poplar residents have lived through other historic moments as well. Colonists were massacred by Nanticoke Indians here as they worked a vast corn and tobacco plantation and many witnessed a British takeover of the island during the war of 1812. Later its proximity to Washington still tied poplar to the Capitol and its powerful residence in 1931 prominent Democrats bought to what was then three islands in the group and formed the Jefferson islands club.

It was really a haven for powerful Washington Democrats Mary Jane Hattaway grew up on Poplar Island mingling with presidents and senators witnessing history as FDR and his staff forged the New Deal and guided the allies through World War II. Of course there were some lighter moments too. Harry Truman was president on a hill called Pop or island. I thought he was a fantastic person and when the presidential party reserved for the 600 people that came that way. And there were a few that stayed over. So my mother was serving dinner that night on the porch. Some reason or rather it had to be served on the porch rather than the dining room. And I had two bowls of green peas. One little child and I leaned over to put one bowl onto the table and when I did the other ball other hand tilted and they went down the president's back. I wanted the floor to swallow me up because

I was sure all those Secret Service men were just going up in our ball. Had this world divided it's the floorboards. But he looked around and apparently I must have tears in my eyes because he was up at all so how funny. Don't worry about that. We all have a story to tell your grandchildren. Needless to say I felt a lot better. The lodge burned to the ground in 1946. The Bailey family bought the islands after the fire. Newspaperman who barely remembers the island was always shrinking. Washing slowly away. Hurricane Hazel devastated Bolivar in 1954 as it roared up the bay. It. Breached papar island in about four places making five separate islands of change the whole character of the place. It's one thing to have a shed or a barn or even your house blowing away. But when the whole terra firma changes that much they're real a real shocker.

The islands were again sold in 1951. This time to the Campbell Soup Company. After changing hands several more times including brief ownership by the Smithsonian. They lay abandoned a group of prominent lawyers bought the islands in the 1980s and hope the federal government will renew with drug spoilage. A piece of property that is losing its value and size quickly. By 1990 poplar island was reduced from a thriving colonial remnant to a mere bird colony. It's guano coated trees standing as sentinels now. Even they are gone. Dredging could re-establish poplar. Yet it will never again be its former self. But even after it's gone. Fully covered by the bay. It's 400 years of Chesapeake lore beneath the choppy water. Poplar island will live. Through the memory of those who brought this Sandy

sliver to life. Thanks for joining us for this special look back at outdoors. Marilyn's first 10 years. We hope you'll watch as the next 10 unfold. Robin Lloyd from Maryland Public Television. Man. I. Love. To hear him. Females are high than the males. Sasha takes great. See. THE standard

couch. For. Now. It's. Pretty interesting. Every male. Has. Pretty. Well. You. Know. I. Want to. See. Let's get that pattern right there. That is very reminiscent of a copperhead it's got an hourglass person up close. Next we'll show the reason why these guys

just get misidentified with capital.