Birders are bewitched and baffled by round robin trip

On a quiet Montreal street a crowd has gathered, binoculars around their necks and cameras at the ready.

- By Danielle Beurteaux MONTREAL

A European robin has taken up residence in the neighbourhood.

Ron Vandebeek from Ottawa, Ontario, is here on a frigid February morning hoping to see the rare bird, which was first spotted in 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 Montreal 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 wondered. “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 usual territory are called.

Vandebeek is joined by others, including Serge Benoît of Laval, Quebec. “It’s a very rare bird and it’s the first time it’s been reported in all of Canada,” Benoît said. “When a bird is very rare, we'll travel farther.”