Montague´s Harrier arrival

Last week I saw the first Montague´s Harrier for the season, a female near Fläcksjön in the Black River Valley. Today the first male appeared as we drove past the large open fields of Saladamm, north of Sala. I got some half decent/half crap pictures but it´s such a delightful bird I will share them anyway. They are probably the best I ever got anyway! This is a special year for me since I have received the honorable mission to survey this species in our county (Västmanland). A task I very much look forward too since it is a real favorite bird of mine. It´s also a scarce breeding bird with only a few pairs in the area and not even every year. They are quite eruptive and unpredictable, turning up and disappearing. Difficult to survey too, since they hunt over vast areas and are very secretive around the nest.