Trainers Have Been Catching Shiny Zapdos, Is This Just a Mistake or Niantic is Really Generous?

There is a new shiny Pokemon available to catch right now. It is quite possible that this is a mistake from the developers. Now that the last one from the three Legendary birds, Zapdos, is out in raid battles, the players noticed that its appearance resembles the Electric-Type’s shiny variant.
Even though the shiny Pokemon are supposed to be extremely rare, every Zapdos is currently extremely similar to its shiny version. Zapdos has a very subtle shiny variant compared to the other Pokemon, but there are some differences between the regular and the shiny one.
Zapdos’ shiny form has an orange beak and legs, and also a darker coloring to the body. It is probably a mistake, or maybe the developers thought that the shiny variant is more visually striking. Because Zapdos only appears as part of raid battles, the legendary bird does need to “pop” above gyms.
However, there is not any indication that the Pokemon they are trying to catch is shiny. Until now, the only shiny in Pokemon Go is the special Magikarp (and Gyarados) that was available earlier.
There is a guide we made to help the players defeat Zapdos, which could help Pokemon Trainers at defeating the Legendary bird. Just heads up, Zapdos is very easy to defeat as it takes only 3 Trainers.