Its always difficult to draw conclusions from photos but the paler bird
in the three photos looks to me like a slightly pale common redpoll. I
think that the first photo, where you can see the wing coverts,
scapulars and mantle, is illustrative in that the ground color of the
back and upperparts is brownish, rather than the frosty grey of hoary.
Pity that you cannot see the head and bill shape well in any of the
photos. Anyway, thats my guess!

Hector Galbraith PhD
Galbraith Environmental Sciences LLC
837 Camp Arden Rd., Dummerston, VT05301
802 258 4836 (phone)