Canada

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?