5/8- Milford, Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center 10am-1PM. rainy & overcast turning sunny, 65-75F. high tide- rising. Our Purple martin colony is active and growing. I counted 22 flying around some carrying nesting material, sitting in a bush and in the gourds. Our ospreys are still incubating eggs, as the male flew back & forth to the nest and his perch and chased off a third osprey again. Several visitors enamored with Franklin (diamond backed terrapin). On the marsh: an estimate of 300 Brant spread out, 5 D.C. Cormorants, 4 Mute swans, 5 Great Egrets, and a few Least terns flying over. On the grounds and feeders: Red winged blackbirds, Common Grackles, 1 Mockingbird, 4 Catbirds, 1 Brown-headed Cowbird, House sparrows, 2 Song sparrows, 2 Chickadees, 2 Blue jays, 8 House finches, 2 Starlings, 4 Cardinals-very vocal, as was a Carolina wren, robins, Mourning doves, a Pair of Baltimore orioles, 1 yellow warbler, 1 Fish crow calling and 2 Tree swallows. A short walk on the sandbar had many shorebirds returning. Bev Propen, Orange