Redpoll sp. ID, Warwickshire, UK (1 Viewer)

[Matt Griffiths]

Greetings,
I'm interested in opinions of this pale redpoll seen on my local patch recently. I received the photos with the email quoted below, but unfortunately no shots from other angles are available. Mealy crossed my mind, a species which I've been unable to positively find amongst the redpoll flocks despite trying, but I'm aware that Lesser Redpoll plumage can become faded as the winter/spring progresses. Any thoughts?
Kind regards,
Matt

'Thought we'd found Arctic Redpoll this morning when several birds in the flock feeding in the Alders near the Wood Lane car park appeared unusually white - pehaps because they were initially hanging upside down facing us, but as it was dull, we dismissed the idea and I shot these pics to compare one with those in the rest of the flock. On looking up the features in Collins on our return, there appear some similarities,
but not enough to convince us that they were anything other than light Commons In any case most are normally seen on the coast. What do you think?

 

[KenM]

Matt Hi,

I can't see anything that jumps out and suggests Common..from what I can see of the upperparts they look just like the Lesser's that I have daily on my feeders.

cheers