Alex Ritson

This is a restriction that applies to all international media organisations operating inside the country.

Lise Doucette.

Bird watchers are flocking to the Canadian city of Montreal after what's believed to be the first recorded sighting of a European robin in Canada.

This is the sound of the European robin.

This is not to be confused with the sound of an American robin, a totally different bird with an orange breast, not a red one.

Here's the American one.

But how did this European robin end up in Canada?

Maggie McPherson is an evolutionary ecologist at Trent University in Ontario.

She spoke to Evan Davis.

This European robin was discovered by a birder who heard a slightly different call in her neighborhood in Montreal, Quebec, and then was able to eventually see the bird and identify it as the European robin.

It's doing great, it's eating, it's chirping, and lots of people are getting to see it.

Are these meant to be social birds?

Is that bird okay on its own?

Oh, that's a good question.

I think it is okay on its own.

European robins can be a little aggressive against other European robins.

And so it does seem to be doing all right.

Yeah.

Now you've got your own robins.

Tell us about the difference between yours and the European robins.