"Greater" Common vs. "Southern" Common Redpoll subspecies - comparison of female plumage

Here is a comparison of typical female-type "Southern" Common Redpoll and the "Greater" Common Redpoll, that is:

1. "Southern" Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea flammea)
2. "Greater" Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea rostrata)

Compared to the more frequently observed "Southern" Common Redpoll, the "Greater" Common Redpoll:

• is ~10% longer and ~25% heavier
• has reduced pale feather edgings
• has darker, bolder, more extensive streaking on flanks and undertail coverts
• has more extensive black on the face
• has darker auriculars, nape and back
• has a proportionately longer tail
• has a proportionately heavier bill (not apparent in these photos)

[click on images to enlarge - note that in the third image, the birds have traded places]

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Acknowledgment: Thanks to Ron Pittaway and Michel Gosselin for their comments on an earlier version of this posting.

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Related resources:

From Ron Pittaway

• 1992. Recognizeable Forms: Redpolls. Ontario Birds 10 (3):108-114 [pdf].
• Redpoll Challenge: four subspecies [an excellent summary and description of the four recognizeable subspecies found in Ontario].
• Photos of Hornemann's Hoary and Greater Common Redpoll.

From David Sibley

• A summary of redpoll subspecies.
• Redpoll identification.
• Photos of Greater Redpolls.
• Redpoll investigation widens to include "Greater".
• Urging caution when identifying Common Redpoll.  

Peer reviewed

• Knox, Alan G. and Peter E. Lowther. 2000. Hoary Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/544 doi:10.2173/bna.544,
• Troy, D.M. 1985. A phenetic analysis of the redpolls Carduelis flammea flammea and. C. hornemanni exilipes. Auk 102: 82-96 [pdf].
• Wetherbee, O.P. 1937. A study of wintering Hoary, Common, and Greater Redpolls, and various intermediates or hybrids. Bird-Banding 8(1): 1-10 [pdf].

Other

• Brinkley, E.S., Buckley, P.A., Bevier, L.R. and A.M. Byrne. 2011. Photo Essay: Redpolls from Nunavut and Greenland visit Ontario. North American Birds 65(2): 2-11 [pdf].
• From Jean Iron, excellent photos of Common Redpolls and Greater Common Redpolls.
• Excellent in-hand comparisons of Greater and Southern Common Redpolls from Toronto, taken by Seabrook Leckie.