Award-winning filmmakers Blake and Emily Scott have done it again with another wildlife documentary, this one about Pea Island, in their series about wildlife refuges.

The Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge documentary airs at 10 p.m. tonight on UNC-TV (channel 4 on the cable system serving Washington).

Pea Island, located off the North Carolina coast, teems with wildlife in an ever-changing environment. The documentary takes the viewer on a journey that explores the habitats and wildlife on Pea Island, a refuge established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt.

“It was amazing to be able to go out to Pea Island and film, really catching wildlife at its best,” Blake Scott said. “Pea Island is a narrow strip of land, 13 miles long between Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe, wedged between the Pamlico Sound and the mighty Atlantic Ocean.”

According to Scott, the compelling element in “Refuge č Pea Island” had to be the Atlantic Ocean.

The film is narrated by award-winning narrator Denise Kelly.

“The Atlantic Ocean is felt in the dramatic footage of a hurricane and nor’easters battering the coastline,” Scott said. “The film just captures all the drama and beauty that exists on this coastal treasure in the Outer Banks.”

The film crew worked during Hurricane Bill,  a Category 4 storm.

“The toughest thing to film was the aftermath,” Scott said. “The beach was just littered with wildlife that had washed ashore.”

Everything from loggerhead turtles to a killer whale to hundreds of jellyfish washed ashore.

As the seasons changed and temperatures dipped below freezing, Scott said, something amazing happened.

“The salt water actually froze, and there were sheets of ice floating around,” he said. “We felt like we were filming in Alaska. We went out to film gannets offshore. We were in a 54-foot boat, and then, out of nowhere, we saw a group of finback whales right next to us to check out our boat. They were 80 feet long. It was just amazing to be there. They kept spraying us, and we had to keep cleaning our cameras. But it was great. Because how often would we get a chance to see that … the world’s second-largest whale species? I had a smile on my face the entire time.”

Scott said he and the film crew also saw another rare spectacle, a group of harbor seals.

“The wildlife officer said there weren’t any seals in the North Carolina waters,” he said. “We were like, ‘Well, we just filmed about half a dozen of them sunbathing on the beach.’”

The first time one of Scott’s refuge documentaries aired on UNC-TV was Dec. 27, 2009, when an estimated 3.5 million viewers tuned in.

“Scott Davies (a representative of UNC-TV) said it was the highest-viewed program ever on the UNC-TV network,” Scott said. “Obviously, we were thrilled.”

Production on “Refuge č Roanoke River” began in April 2010. It is in post-production mode.

Producing, editing, writing and filming the documentaries themselves, the Scotts use their money and funding from sponsors to do their work.

Their work is edited entirely at Star Trak Recording Studio and STRS Productions, located in Washington.

The Scotts’ work was noticed by National Geographic, which is interested in airing the Refuge films on its cable TV network.

The Refuge series includes films about the refuges at Mattamuskeet, Pocosin Lakes and, now, Pea Island.

The Scotts said Ernest Marshall, a retired East Carolina University professor, helped write the script for the Pea Island film, and Ron Marchand, a cameraman and engineer with STRS Productions, played a major role in making the documentary.

Much of the behind-the-scenes footage may be viewed on STRS Productions’ YouTube presence at www.youtube.com/user/STRSproductions. Copies of any installment in the Refuge series may be purchased at www.refugewildlife.com or by calling 252-946-4728. The DVDs have an additional 15 minutes of footage. Visit www.refugewildlife.com for additional photographs and information regarding upcoming Refuge films on UNC-TV.