Following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]In the early 1800s, Lewis and Clark headed west to the Pacific. 200 and some years later, a new expedition is headed west to find out how wildlife populations have changed over the centuries. Dr. Roland Kays and his team are traveling the same route using camera traps and enlisting local scientists to document the wildlife along the way. He's on the line to give us an update about his trip and what they're finding.

[00:00:23]>> We've been doing these paddles along the river and we're paddling up the Missouri River at the mouth near St. Louis. And all of a sudden this bald eagle starts swooping down on the river. So, we're like, "Oh, wait, he's trying to get something." And he swooped twice and he didn't get it and we're trying to see what was he going after. And, you know, we're paddling upstream and the water's coming downstream. And we realized it was a baby duckling that was getting attacked by this bald eagle. And this baby duckling literally jumped into our boat for protection [laughter] from this bald eagle. So, that was pretty incredible. I've never experienced anything like that before. So, we brought the duckling back over to the shore. The bald eagle kind of got scared away by our by our boats. And so, the duckling survived the moment, but that was one certainly incredible moment we had.