  We report measurements and analysis of the voltage noise due the to vortex
motion, performed in superconducting Niobium micro-bridges. Noise in such small
systems exhibits important changes from the behavior commonly reported in
macroscopic samples. In the low biasing current regime, the voltage
fluctuations are shown to deviate substantially from the Gaussian behavior
which is systematically observed at higher currents in the so called flux-flow
regime. The responsibility of the spatial inhomogeneities of the critical
current in this deviation from Gaussian behavior is emphasized. We also report
on the first investigation of the effect of an artificial pinning array on the
voltage noise statistics. It is shown that the fluctuations can lose their
stationarity, and exhibit a Levy flight-like behavior.
