America's Wild Seasons

Episode 1

Spring

49 mins

Awakening from winter slumber, spring bursts forth. Across the continent, it's the season of courting and new life. Fresh growth brings greener pastures for exuberant bison calves on South Dakota grasslands. Blossoms explode on the rain-refreshed deserts of Arizona, where hungry hummingbirds hunt nectar and build sticky spider web nests to raise tiny chicks. On the beaches of New Jersey, horseshoe crabs bring sands alive in a breeding frenzy. Their masses of emerald eggs bring a bonanza for migrating shorebirds feasting en route to Arctic breeding grounds. In Florida, reptile romances are over in a splash. Dads beat a retreat, getting out of the way. In Hawaii, climbing gobies inch their way up steep slippery cliffs in a monumental climb from the ocean to tranquil pools atop a waterfall. In the grasslands of Wyoming, male sage grouse and prairie chickens get their dance moves on. Dressed to impress, they inflate their chest pouches, strutting their stuff for the females. Snow and sea ice melt away in Alaska, giving way to longer days. The land comes alive as lichen-loving caribou and cacophonous snow geese head north to graze in the short growing season. Off the Alaskan coast, humpback whales return from winter in Hawaii and sea otter mothers devotedly groom, feed and tend their vulnerable furry babies in their lush coastal nurseries. They must keep an eye out -- when not hunting alone underwater -- for opportunistic and ravenous bald eagles. Mustang stallions - feral horses descended from the stock of centuries past -- battle for females. It's a wild ride on the highland plains of California's Sierra Nevada. Meanwhile in western Wisconsin, fuzzy wood ducklings courageously leap to independence from their nest in the treetops. Life is renewed in a crescendo of activity as Spring arrives in the Wild American Year.