I'm definitely outnumbered, but have been studying the photos in my "Raptors of Eastern North America", and I would have said juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawk...two reasons, mainly:

1) The tail of a Red-Shouldered usually has thick dark bands and narrow light bands, which this hawk does...where red-tails, when their tails are banded, tend to have dark narrow bands and somewhat lighter narrow bands.

2) The streaking on the bird's chest doesn't seem to come together into a belly-band that is typical of Red-tailed Hawks, to me...or at least I have to use my imagination to make it into a belly-band.

Friday morning my daughter and I are headed to Rochester. We will be staying until Monday morning. I will personally tell Beauty our concerns about her 2nd egg, (if it hasn't arrived by then). We will be bunking with MAK and Sue, (thanks girls). We are also going to search out Bobbie from Ireland. I will be on my 1st watch Saturday morning, with MAK. Looking forward to meeting who ever!  Hope I see lots of A & B.

That's wonderful Donna, and I'm most envious.  Have a great time; I hope you get to meet Bobbie!

Patti

Looks like a delicious fish has been added to the pile of carcasses...

Can anybody make out what the dead animal is that's on the nest now?

Lou

It's got small, sharp looking claws, and seems too big to be a squirrel.  I'm wondering about a good-size rodent like a prairie dog or groundhog...

Great lookin' shots, Lou! 

I ran across this article...it sounds like there has been a Snowy Owl hanging out at Braddock Bay:
http://php.democratandchronicle.com/blog/birds/?p=4386

I don't remember seeing/hearing any of the locals posting this sighting (it's possible that I just missed it), so I thought I'd pass it on.

The article was from Tuesday, with the sighting on Monday, so it's possible the bird might have moved on.

I voted, but have no idea which day I picked!  A little stress-induced memory loss in my life I think, and obviously I wasn't terribly invested in my answer...

Thanks, Ei...that was very helpful info, especially the blog that explained the extra mouth in the nest!  I was glad to read that folks are monitoring the situation, since it seems to me that hummers often live on the edge of survival anyway, with such blazingly fast metabolic rates.

I just caught a feeding...and it looked like she has three little ones in there!  I thought two was usually the limit for hummers, but perhaps I'm wrong.  Hopefully she's in her prime and the California bugs and nectar are plentiful!

I'm actually the silly one...I completely missed the fact that today is April 1st, and didn't realize I was spoiling your joke...want me to remove my posts?

Yes!  This site has a video on how they made the penguins fly:
http://laughingsquid.com/flying-penguins-documentary-prank-on-bbc/

I thought that was a BBC April Fool's prank from a few years back...

[they]

Guys! You gotta watch this one! I don't know which is more beautiful - the birds or the nest they built.

Oh, and one more comment...in hummingbirds the females do ALL of the work, from nest building to brooding to feeding; the males only provide one thing and their job is done!  So your phrase "the nest they built" was overly generous to Mr. Anna's Hummingbird.  I'm amazeding that a bird with such a high metabolism, who has to eat almost constantly, can feed herself and two young ones all alone!

I am PC run riot, Patti! Thanks for the info. I would love to be "Anna" and have this wonderful bird named after me. She is simply gorgeous. I was guessing I had seen both parents, but it was probably the angle. Her throat feathers are splendid - and that nest! Any info on that? The colouring is as beautiful as she is. Do you know what she uses? And what sort of plant is the nest in? I suppose I could google but it is more fun to chat to people who know!

Corrected my typo above...I really need to slow down!  I thought I knew the answer, but needed to look it up to make sure.  They use plant down, held together with spider silk, and then decorated on the outside.  Here's a pretty good link: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Annas_Hummingbird/lifehistory

Had you seen the male Anna's Hummingbird your eyes would have fallen out of your head, so it's probably good that you didn't.

[they]

Guys! You gotta watch this one! I don't know which is more beautiful - the birds or the nest they built.

Oh, and one more comment...in hummingbirds the females do ALL of the work, from nest building to brooding to feeding; the males only provide one thing and their job is done!  So your phrase "the nest they built" was overly generous to Mr. Anna's Hummingbird.  I'm amazed that a bird with such a high metabolism, who has to eat almost constantly, can feed herself and two young ones all alone!

Just found this webcam of a California hummingbird - not sure which sp

Hey Bobbie, thanks...

I think it's Anna's Hummingbird...there aren't that many hummers in California, and this one seems to match -- red throat patch on the female (if you catch her on camera at the right angle), black bill, no rufous coloration, white eyebrow.