After setting up their tents, Win, Hope, Joy, and Ethan joined me in my van for a roundabout. On their earlier jaunt without me, they had seen a large Yellowbelly Slider crossing the road, a Swallow-tailed Kite, and the elusive Red-cockaded Woodpecker.

Our first sighting was a young adult Snapping Turtle cross the road. Joy, our birding expert, spotted a Red-headed Woodpecker entering a nest hole high up on a dead pine tree. We also saw the first of many Prothonotary Warblers we would see during the weekend. Innumerable Great Crested Flycatchers darted to and fro from the roadway and woods.