jamerbean

Maybe juvenile black-crowned night heron?

Agreed that it is a night heron, but I believe it is a juvenile black-crowned night heron based on the color of the bill (juvie yellow-crowneds have an all black bill): http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black...

For a moment it surprised me because it looks so similar to a species we have here, the great blue heron, but I knew they definitely aren't in Germany so I had to try to find out what it was. :)

Its crown looks strangely green, but the base of the neck and upwards appears dark gray/black so that would be my guess. It's hard to tell what size it is based on the picture, so tricolored heron might actually be too large.

I disagree with snowy egret... the plain black feet show that it is a great egret. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Egret...

Agreed with juvenile red-tailed, the tail barring is unmistakable. Love the picture!

Not streaked enough to be a female house finch in my opinion, it is more likely a female house sparrow.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/house...

Oh wow, looking at the 3 larger eggs it looks like the nest has been taken advantage of by a parasitic bird... maybe a cowbird?

Maybe Lincoln's?

What beautiful pictures!