Redpolls

11 Feb 2011 Lesser and Common Redpolls © Nick Moran

It has been an excellent winter for redpolls with a big arrival of birds from northwestern Europe last autumn. This has given some good opportunities to compare 'our' Lesser Redpolls Carduelis cabaret (left) with Common Redpolls C. flammea from Fenno-Scandia. The latter have recently been given species status; their larger size and paler plumage are amongst the features by which they can be recognised, though they often hard to identify.



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