The European robin has appeared in the middle of a freezing Montréal winter.
© Sabrina JacobThe European robin has appeared in the middle of a freezing Montréal winter.
On a quiet Montréal street of low-rise brick apartment buildings on one side and cement barrier wall on the other, a crowd has gathered, binoculars around their necks and cameras at the ready. A European robin has taken up residence in the neighbourhood, which is sandwiched between two industrial areas with warehouses and railway lines and, a few blocks away, port facilities on the St Lawrence River.

Ron Vandebeek from Ottawa, Ontario, is here on a frigid February morning hoping to see the rare bird, which was first spotted at the beginning of January.

This is the first recorded sighting of a European robin in Canada, and only the fifth or sixth in North America. That it has taken up residence in Quebec is a source of delight but also consternation for birders. How did it travel thousands of kilometres from its home territory, and will it survive a very cold Montréal winter?

The bird's normal home range is western Europe, from Scotland to Turkey and as far north as Sweden during breeding season, and visiting Iceland on a seasonal migration stop.


"Did it island hop from Iceland to Greenland to here?" Vandebeek wonders. "That's a lot of hopping."

The new local celebrity has brought hundreds of birdwatchers to witness this "rare bird" or "vagrant", as birds outside their normal territory are called.

While he's waiting, Vandebeek is joined by others, including Serge Benoît of Laval, Quebec. Benoît says it is worth making the effort to see such a curiosity.

"It's a very rare bird and it's the first time it's been reported in all of Canada. We've never seen it before. So, when a bird is very rare, we'll travel farther."

Vandebeek is the first to spot the bird as it alights on a platform feeder set high in a hedge. With its striking orange breast feathers, it is easy to identify. It seems unfazed by the excitement and whirr of digital cameras, perhaps having adapted to its celebrity status after drawing hundreds of birdwatchers over the past weeks.

The European robin is a very distinctive bird, says Ted Floyd, the editor of the American Birding Association's (ABA) Birding Magazine, and that has made it easier to spot.

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