Appearance:

Small and neat finch with red forehead patch, black bib and base of bill, yellow bill with dark tip and buff wing-bars. Male with pinkish or red chest. Rump streaked, and under tail-coverts with dark centre (as opposed to Arctic Redpoll). Base colour of plumage varies between different subspecies from warm brown to greyish. S.sp. cabaret (often treated as an own species: Lesser Redpoll) has brownish plumage tones, and is smaller than flammea (Common Redpoll). Juveniles lacks red forehead, has less contrasting head markings and more prominent streaking than adults. Underparts with darker streaking, and lores and chin darker than juvenile Linnet and Twite. Dancing flight, with deeper undulations than Linnet.

Sound:

Contact call diagnostic. A chattering "Chutt-utt-utt", with a more metallic and nasal timbre than Linnet and Twite. Other sound includes plaintive call mostly given when perched. Uttered as a continuous sound, but with a disyllabic feel. First part ascending slowly, then faster before it is cut off "tsooeet". Song an improvised chattering on various contact calls with no apparent phrasing.

Contact call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Appearance:

Differs from Common Redpoll by white, almost unstreaked rump (young birds may have some streaks). Under tail coverts white, with only very narrow black center, or no black at all. Upperparts greyer, underparts whiter with less prominent streaking. Wing bars brighter. Bill shorter and less deep, and face "flatter". Juveniles difficult to distinguish from Common Redpoll, even when held in hand. Species status debated.

Sound:

Very similar to Common Redpoll, but possibly with a softer tone and slightly longer pauses between each syllable. See Common Redpoll.

Distribution:

Xeno-canto map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC