Rhode Island may be the smallest state, but its coast is home to an extraordinary cast of characters in the water, along the shoreline, and soaring overhead.
This month, nature filmmaker Tomas Koeck returns with the third episode of the documentary series Ocean State: Rhode Island’s Wild Coast, produced in partnership with Ocean State Media. This time, he turns his camera toward the remarkable animals that connect our sky, sea and shore — and the increasingly fragile habitats they depend on.
Ocean State Media’s Luis Hernandez spoke with Koeck about what viewers can expect from the series’ third installment.
Sky, Sea, and Shore premieres Monday at 9 p.m. on Ocean State Media TV and streaming on the PBS Passport app.
Tomas Koeck
Interview highlights
On why this episode features a lot of birds
Tomas Koeck: I've done a lot of bird stuff in association with the National Audubon Society, so birds always hold a special place in my heart. What I'd like to say to viewers is: if you like birds, this episode's for you. We're covering Piping Plover, Osprey, shorebirds, and we're looking at how all these things interplay with each other.
When it comes to birds themselves, they're such an interesting subject. What a lot of people don't realize is you're going to have the same individuals propagating a similar area, so you can continue going to the same spot, getting to know these individuals, and they actually can get to know you. I'm a very ethics-first wildlife photographer and videographer, so I don't bait, I don't feed. It's purely me showing up to the area and seeing what's going on.
On how the episode showcases how local species are interconnected
Koeck: (Fiddler crabs) help aerate the soil or turn over the soil that allows salt marsh grasses to grow. And so I'm going, "Oh wow, fiddler crabs, they're amazing."... But then (a scientist) was explaining to me that if you go farther north, the fiddler crabs are going farther and farther north because of the changing climate. And they're actually finding marshes where these habitats were not dependent on the fiddler crabs themselves. So they're actually causing a bit of an issue. It's so interesting learning about all the nuances, how everything's interconnected.
In this episode, we focus on southern New England specifically. So we got the fiddler crabs, which are keeping the salt marsh grasses healthy, which are very important for the salt marsh sparrow. Learning about how all these things are connected, I go in knowing there's going to be interconnection. It's just learning how that all goes about is a lot of fun, and that's all happening during the production.
On what viewers will learn in this episode
Koeck: I think they're going to be surprised by how quickly you realize how interconnected everything is.
I like to describe (it as:) Whether you're learning about how forests work or how beaches work or the different types of trees in your yard, you're learning a language. When you learn that new language, all of a sudden you can go out into the world now and see how everything's interplaying.
Now, sometimes it can be a bit of a catch-22, right? I used to walk in my forest when I was growing up in Connecticut and go, "Oh, this is so beautiful. This is so gorgeous. I love this place." And then you learn, and you realize, "Oh my God, 80% of the plants here are invasive. They kicked out all of the native plants, and now we've got this problem and this habitat issue, and there should be birds here." Then you realize what people can do to make these things better.
