Lowcountry naturalist has a passion for our animals. And now an Emmy, too
From turtles to bald eagles to albino baby alligators, the Lowcountry is full of wildlife worth discovering.
"Coastal Kingdom," a state-wide television show sponsored by Beaufort County and hosted by Tony Mills, helps viewers make those discoveries. It recently won a regional Emmy award for Best On-Air Talent/Host and was nominated for the 2018 Southeast Emmy award for Best Informational/Instructional TV program.
Mills is a naturalist and the education director for the Spring Island Trust.
"I love for people to follow along, get out and catch turtles with us and meet reptiles and amphibians and birds. This is the stuff I really get excited about," Mills, the award-winning host, said.
Formerly the Lowcountry Institute, the Spring Island Trust is a nonprofit organization focused on teaching people about the area's ecosystems and wildlife conservation.
"From my perspective, what makes Tony's program so unique and why he's such a great host is it's the only nature program where the viewer gets to go ... with the host basically (on) a discovery experience," said Chris Marsh, executive director of the Spring Island Trust.
Marsh said many educational or nature-based programs "too often they make it about the host."
Not so with Mills.
"It's about the parts of the environment that you're discovering. It's all about discovering and learning," Marsh said.
A January episode of the show featured bald eagles.
A chick, only a few weeks old, got tangled in Spanish moss — a plant known to softly drape the Lowcountry landscape — and fell about 80 feet from its nest to the ground.
With help of the Bluffton fire department and biologists from the Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw, South Carolina, Mills was able to return the bird safely to its nest.
Marsh said the show is a great tool for teachers because they can access episodes and review questions through the program's website.
Marsh said there is a reason the show and it's host drew Emmy attention.
"[Mills's] passion for the subject is so evident, and it's clear that his goal is to educate ... about something he's passionate about," he said.
In another episode, Mills taught viewers about diamondback terrapin turtles, one of the Lowcountry's resident salt marsh reptiles.
"I have to admit, I am a bit partial to diamondback terrapins," Mills wrote in a Bluffton Breeze column about the animals. "I think they may well be one of the most beautiful turtles in the world."
Mills dedicates each "Coastal Kingdom" episode to a specific part of that world.
"The great thing about the show is that we get to highlight what we've got here — the plants and animals that are ... all around us," Rob Lewis, the show's cinematographer, said.
Lewis grew up watching South Carolina nature programs. He represents the Beaufort County Channel part of the show's production.
He and Mills had the idea to produce a nature show at the same time, and they've created 23 shows over the last eight years. They are working on three more, Mills said.
"Because it's a wildlife show, a lot of times set-up and shooting takes a long time. Sometimes we'll go out to film some animal or a bird and maybe they won't be there," Lewis said. "Sometimes shoots take a matter of days or a couple of weeks, but we really put our heart and soul into it."
A few years ago the duo filmed a clutch of baby alligators and about 25 percent of them were albino.
It was something they'd never filmed before, Lewis said.
The Emmy-winning host said the "diversity of life" in the Lowcountry is incredible.
"There's amazing things right in our backyards," Mills said. "I want people to not only enjoy it with me, but I want people to realize what they have so they can do the best possible job taking care of it."
This story was originally published June 21, 2018 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Lowcountry naturalist has a passion for our animals. And now an Emmy, too."