Thanks to its unique geographical intersection of ocean, mountains, deserts, wetlands and urban development, San Diego County is recognized as the most biologically diverse county in the continental United States, according to the Nature Conservancy.

That’s the subject of “Nature – San Diego: America’s Wildest City,” which premiered earlier this month on PBS stations and the PBS app. A giant-screen version of the film, titled “Wild San Diego” will follow on Nov. 22 for a seven-year engagement at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Ramona photographer Roy Toft and Brian Caldwell, who takes photos of grebes at Lake Hodges, helped behind the scenes to bring the film to life.

“San Diego: America’s Wildest City” was written by Nate Dappen and Neil Losin, co-owners of San Diego-based Day’s Edge Productions, which co-produced the 52-minute film with WNET Group and Terra Mater Studios.

Dappen said he, Losin and their production team have been working on the “Wildest City” project for the past two years. It’s about how wildlife in San Diego has adapted and survived in a landscape that has been dramatically transformed over time by humans and the challenges and opportunities these species face today.

I knew I wanted to create a film that celebrates a different, spectacular side of America’s most biodiverse county,” Dappen said.

The film looks at a handful of wildlife species that are not only native to San Diego County but that also have either adapted to, or been hurt by, the presence of humans, who arrived in this region 12,000 years ago and have increased 500-fold in number to 3.3 million over the past 100 years. The greatest influence humans have had on wildlife, the documentary says, is how we manage our water resources.

Among the many species observed in the documentary are Western grebes, red-eyed water fowl that nest in man-made reservoirs and lakes. The Allen’s hummingbird comfortably nests in urban backyards, where they can gather nectar from nurtured gardens and sip from sugar water-filled hummingbird feeders. There are also Pacific harbor seals, who take over the human-made 1931-era Children’s Pool in La Jolla each year as a pupping ground.

These Western grebe chicks are being fed while on the back on their parents. (Brian Caldwell)

Dappen said it was a joy to work with fellow nature lovers.

“Roy is one of the top nature photographers in the world. He has Ph. D-level knowledge of the wildlife around his property and is amazing to be around,” Dappen said. “And Brian is so dialed in to what is happening with the grebes; he cares so deeply about them.”

Toft said he helped shoot some of the videos using Dappen’s gear. One video showed a roadrunner catching a hummingbird and another a sequence of hummingbirds in the garden.

“In May 2023, the video team came out and we set up video cameras around the water features in my garden, he said.

Brightly colored flowers in the foreground and a mountain in the background make for a unique hummingbird photograph. (Roy Toft)

Wildlife photographer Roy Toft checks out equipment at one of the watering holes on his Ramona property, triggering a motion sensor-based self portrait. (Roy Toft)

A rattlesnake poses for a close up. (Roy Toft)

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Brightly colored flowers in the foreground and a mountain in the background make for a unique hummingbird photograph. (Roy Toft)

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Toft explained that the video cameras for the film worked the same as the still cameras he has set up around his property. Once set up, they are triggered when they detect motion.

At Lake Hodges, Caldwell provided the crew with detailed information on grebes and their behavior. Having also known Toft and Dappen for years through the industry, Caldwell said he was more than happy to be a part of the project.

He said he appreciated the video team the most for their professionalism.

“They are patient, and understand to get the shot you have to have the right conditions, a bit of expertise, a bit of timing and a bit of luck, and you do whatever you can to get it,” Caldwell said. “it was great fun working with them.”

A gimbal head was attached to the bow of a boat to get the grebe shots for the documentary. (Brian Caldwell)

The documentary doesn’t delve deep into the threat that development, drought and climate change pose to local plants and wildlife, but it does show some of the unexpected results.

For example, the city of San Diego recently stopped using automated sand grooming machines on its beaches during grunion season because the heavy machines were crushing millions of eggs laid under the sand. It also shows how when heavy rains force water officials to open the floodgates of dams, the grebe nests upstream are often destroyed.

And it explains that crows didn’t exist in San Diego until the 1980s, but were drawn to the region as a fertile hunting ground for thriving birds, squirrels and other prey.

With so much of his life revolving around the grebes of Lake Hodges, Caldwell was pleased the documentary started and ended with his favorite bird.

“Hopefully, through the film, more people will learn about the grebes and the public will be better educated when it comes to the issues facing them,” he said.

Toft, who recently released the book “Wild Ramona,” featuring his photography of the wild animals that frequent the trails around his home, said he feels that overall, there is more awareness and appreciation of wildlife than in the past.

That’s part of what my project is; a PR piece for our local wildlife. Not all wild critters are bad and we should be happy we have them around,” he said.

A kestrel takes flight with a freshly caught lizard. (Roy Toft)

Dappen said the big lesson in the documentary is that despite how humans are dramatically transforming where they live, wildlife continues to adapt and thrive.

“I really want people to walk away feeling how spectacular and beautiful it is here and to love the place they live,” he said.

Dappen and Losin met in 2008 in Costa Rica, where they were both doing field work for their doctorates. After discovering they shared a passion for nature photography and film, they abandoned their plans for academic careers in 2010 and started Day’s Edge, which has produced educational and advocacy films about nature, wildlife, agriculture, anthropology and the environment.

Past Day’s Edge film projects include the six-part PBS Science documentary series “Human Footprint” (2023), “Serengeti: Nature’s Living Laboratory” (2019); and the Inland Passage paddling adventure doc “ The Passage (2019), among many others.