A first weekend of birding in Zurich

The weekend began with a short evening walk at Katzensee, where a European Goldfinch appeared in backlight alongside several Carrion Crows and a Eurasian Collared-Dove. The following morning brought a longer circuit around the northern end of Lake Zurich. Between the lakeside parks, open water and busy city shore, a whole series of species joined my Zurich list. Most were familiar waterbirds, including Mute Swans, Eurasian Coots, Great Crested Grebes and several gulls. A Red-crested Pochard was a less expected sighting among them. Towards the end, a distant Red Kite passed overhead and rounded off a very good start to birding in Switzerland.