Observations by chrislex

On some of the pictures these gulls seem flying synchronously. This was due to the wind blowing very strongly, so they managed to stay in the air without wing beats. All they had to do was hold their position in the wind, wings extended.

Now, why would they do that, anyway?

I was feeding them bread crumbs, and I was throwing the pieces in the air, so they had to catch them. That was easy for them since they were holding place in the wind pretty exactly over my position. And they were versatile at manoeuvering to the flying bread crumbs using the strong wind instead of wing beats.

The situation allowed me to get a close-up picture of one gull scanning the ground while hovering over the spot in the wind. I found it a remarkable picture since I was using only a 18-55mm lens, the one I had with me in that moment.

Report in German language: Synchron fliegende Möwen.

Two mute swans on a "day out" on river Limmat in the heart of Zurich, accompanied by two cygnets (theirs presumably, one swan seemed to have an eye on them). The cygnets were rather playful, one chasing the other, trying to bite the other's neck, the kind of thing young siblings do.

While walking at Schanzengraben on Tuesday afternoon, May 21, 2013, from the corner of my eye I saw something move below the leaves and heard a swish. First I thought of mice or rats moving through the bush. I expected it to whizz off when I stopped to see what it was. It didn't. So, it was neither a mouse nor a rat, and when I saw two ducklings I understood why they didn't whizz off - they simply aren't that fast, and they can't fly yet. First I saw two ducklings. Then I noticed there was a whole group hiding under the leaves. Of course they moved away, all in a row, one behind another, when I watched them. Then they moved a little away from the path and took a position where they weren't covered by leaves anymore but were further away from the path. They were squeaking intensly. The mother duck wasn't visible but several male seemed to virtually patrol the area the ducklings were in, at least when no H. sapiens were nearby. I guess they were attracted by the squeaking of the ducklings.
One duckling was higher up in the bush, either the whole group came from there or one had run off further into the bush before I came. Now this single duckling squeaked too, and I noticed the one and the group seemed to alternate squeaking as if they were trying to find each other again by voice. In the end, the single one headed in the direction of the group which it could only have determined by listening to the squeaks.

I guess it's a Corvus. Sounds like one. The question, though, is what kind of Corvus exactly it is. So if anybody is an expert and can determine it by location, date and sound, please go ahead, comment is free. :)