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It's probably Arbutus unedo, strawberry tree. Native to Mediterranean region and some part of western Ireland. Edit: I've just spot that you found it in California, so it's probably one of north american Arbutus species, eg. Arbutus menziesii.

European Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) and it is native to your area according to its species range map http://woodpeckersofeurope.info/?q=green_woodpecker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Green_Woodpecker

Crows are omnivorous, and will eat almost anything they find or can kill. In this case the prey looks like a Northern Flicker.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think they look like scale insects (Coccoidea). In particular it looks at bit like a hermaphrodite cottony cushion scale insect (Icerya purchasi)... The white fluffy thing underneath the insects is the ootheca (egg case). The mature insect migrates to the main trunk of its host tree and attaches to the bark. It then secretes the ...

It looks indeed like a Spirogyra, or at least a member of the Zygnematales. And yes, the green things are the chloroplasts (or one long chloroplast?), and they are arranged in spiral. The "empty" space in the middle is likely the nucleus, and the darker circles within the chloroplast(s) could be the starch accumulated at the periphery of pyrenoids.

It's a type of centipede. Based on the long legs, I would bet on something like that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata Or at least a Scutigeromorpha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigeromorpha#Scutigeromorpha

Likely to be a black carpet beetle larvae http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7436.html For more facts try: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7436.html Don't worry though, they live everywhere! Wikipedia has some info on the family of beetles that they belong to (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermestidae). I don't think they really cause ...

Hmmmm... the only one I can think of fitting at least in part your description would be the golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus). I say partly because it definitely is not 2-3 times a blackbird, could be slightly bigger, but on average it is the same size. Also it sounds extremely unlikely that you have spotted it in early March in Zurich, as they should be in ...

It looks like a passerine bird, but I can't really tell the species without seeing the whole body. As for what to do with it, your best course of action is to leave it alone. Trust me. Once placed tissue paper over a pigeon's eggs to keep them warm, and the mother crushed them when she landed on the nest because she didn't see the eggs. If there are eggs in ...

The bird needs to be left alone; that's the best help you can give it. Anything more than watching it is liable to lead to nesting failure (e.g. abandonment of the nest). The bird looks attentive and quiet, and so is most likely an adult keeping the eggs or chicks warm. The bill suggests a seed-eating bird, but there are large numbers of those (e.g. ...

Found this image here. I've also seen references to the "closed orange ear patch" of the King Penguin, which fits with the image. So my vote is for the DK image being a King Penguin.

This looks like some sort of ground squirrel. Especially in the second picture, the posture is very characteristic of squirrels in general. The tail also looks very squirrel-like to my eyes. My best guess, without better pictures, is the Striped Ground Squirrel (Xerus erythropus). See the images at: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/8834404@N02/2902284598/ ...

It said to be an eagle. It looks like a Ptolemy V (204–181 BC): http://www.bonanza.com/listings/-DD-G-068-Ptolomy-V-Octadrachm-COPY/16293418?gpid=21297750541&gpkwd=&goog_pla=1&gclid=CMWBpbOaxrUCFYx_Qgod6TsA9w it looks to be a pretty standard motif of that era: From: ...

I had a quick look in my books (for the British Isles and Europe) but although I found a couple of candidates I don't feel confident in either identification. I suggest that you have a look at Roger Phillips' online identification guide - this will suggest a few identification criteria that you haven't considered in your question.

This little dude is not a Caddisfly, but a true moth, Tinea pellionella, a case making clothing moth. Confusing because they do resemble caddisfly larvae cocoons more so than those of their own family (Tineidae). Sort blurb Here: "The brown-headed larva spins a silken case that is open at both ends. The case in the above image is covered with fine ...

This is probably caterpillar of one of the moth species from family Psychidae. They larvae looks like Trichoptera larvae and builds similar cases out of silk and material found in nearby surroundings. In contrast to Trichoptera, Psychidae caterpillars don't live in water, and some of them inhabit stones and walls, where they feed on lichens.