Ontario Vacation 2019
Published: July 19, 2019
Tags: General Observations, osprey, willet, piping plover, grasshopper sparrow, vesper sparrow, least bittern, cliff swallow, bank swallow, bobolink, ovenbird, pine warbler
Our family spent a week on Rice Lake in Ontario, CA again this year. Every now and then, I'd get a chance to sneak off and do a little birding. Here are a few of the birds that were fun to see!
 A backlit Grasshopper Sparrow just down the road from our cottage. It looks like he's feeding young!  Also just down the road, this family of Osprey was seen each day flying over the lake and sitting on their nest.  Pine Warbler seen along the roadside  An Ovenbird seen on a forest walk  Vesper Sparrow - a very nice surprise!  Eastern Kingbird - they were EVERYWHERE!  A young or female Bobolink  A hoped-for bird for my Ontario list, a Cliff Swallow  ...and another new Ontario bird for me, a Bank Swallow  A Piping Plover on nest. Volunteers had cordoned off the area and were keeping watch over the nesting pair. Two young had just been born that morning!  The male of the pair worked his way down the beach towards me and I was able to get a better photo, despite the heavy fog.  What a great surprise! On the same beach as the plovers, I heard the cry of a Willet. Out of the fog, this bird emerged and set down right near me!  A little clearer view...  This Least Bittern was a fun and unexpected sighting!
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