[sweepiedog]

Valentia Island, Kerry. A twite ?????

[Darrell Clegg]

The bill is bit too big for Twite. It looks more like a young Redpoll to me

Darrell

[Mark D]

Hi

The grey in the head means this is a Linnet. There is no black in the face at the bill base so it's not a Redpoll sp.

Mark

[Michael Frankis]

The heavy mantle streaking, strong greater & median covert wingbars and lack of prominent pale secondary fringes rule out Linnet.

It is either Twite or Lesser Redpoll; I'm struggling to decide which. I've an idea newly-fledged redpolls lack the black face patch or only have a very small one; if that is true (I can't find any definitive info), then I'd go for just-fledged Lesser Redpoll.

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Looking again, I think the face is enough turned away for any black face patch to be hidden. I'm coming down more for juvenile Lesser Redpoll.

Michael

[Darrell Clegg]

You are right Michael. Recently fledged Redpoll shows no black at the base of the bill. A Linnet would also have a much greyer bill than this bird.

Darrell

[Harry Hussey]

Hi,
Looks more like a juv.Lesser Redpoll to me.Have noticed more than usual this summer,so they may have had a good breeding season(of course,maybe I was just in suitable breeding habitat more often?).
Harry H

[Mark D]

hi again,

I'll concede the wing bars aren't good for Linnet, I was concentrating on the head with my initial ID. Is it my monitor or is the head grey brown? Do you think the bill is too big/strong looking for Redpoll? What about the seemingly long tail?
Juv Linnets can have a streaked mantle. I would have thought the black eye stripe would have continued into the loral area if it was a Redpoll.

Mark