Rockin’ Robin: Beijingers Flock to Spot Rare Bird

He may be little, but he’s flapped up a frenzy. A red and brown feathered European robin has been spotted at the Beijing Zoo, and it’s bound to be one of the capital’s biggest celebrity sightings of the year.

Think it’s nothing to get your feathers ruffled over? The crowd pictured below would disagree. They gathered to snap photos of the last European robin sighted in Beijing, in 2014. The bird now causing a stir at the Beijing Zoo is only the third known European robin to land in Beijing.

Terry Townshend, a British expat who has made a name for himself in Beijing as a bird watcher, environmentalist and wildlife blogger, took to his Twitter account @BirdingBeijing last night (Jan 9) with the news. Along with posting images of the robin and its many admiring onlookers at the Beijing Zoo, he also passed on a hypothesis as to why the bird was in town: “The Chinese are calling the Robin ‘a Brexit refugee!’”

When it comes to that joke, Townshend went on to tell the Beijinger: "The Robin is thought of as a British bird, which is why some people are calling it a 'Brexit refugee.' But of course it’s range extends across Europe and into Central Asia, so it’s most likely the bird at the zoo is from the eastern part of the range, and unlikely to have come from the UK."

For Townshend, who grew up birdwatching back in the UK, the buzz around this bird's Beijing arrival is both surreal and gratifying. He says: "It’s only the third time a Robin has turned up in Beijing, and of course it’s a beautiful bird, that’s why people are getting excited."

"A bird that most people take for granted in its home range can cause much excitement when it appears somewhere unusual," he adds.

READ: Environmentalist Enraged After Seeing Endangered Bird for Sale on Taobao

And this isn't the only bird to have made headlines in Beijing media as of late. This past spring the death of a cuckoo affectionately referred to as "Flappy McFlapperson" by throngs on social media, was covered by numerous news outlets in China.

She had been fitted with a tag at a wetland in northern Beijing two years prior for a study by Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center (BWRRC), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and Townshend's Birding Beijing. The project was meant to both reveal new details about East Asian cuckoos' migratory patterns and boost public awareness with birding and wildlife in general.

Let's hope this budding avian affinity will continue in the capital so that our feathered friends can offer a reprieve from the troubling news of the day, not to mention boosting ecological awareness and environmentalism overall.

Read our in-depth profile of Terry Townshend here.

More stories by this author here.

Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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Photos: Xiang, Terry Townshend (via Twitter)