Pallid X Hen Harrier

For about a month now an interesting bird has been around Kvismaren in Sweden (about 200km west of Stockholm). I got a report about an unsure Pallid or Montagu's Harrier. I was close by so i went there to look for it. I found it within halv an hour, but quite far away. Right away I got the feeling of a juvenile Pallid from the jizz of the bird. And shortly afterwards I could see that the tips of the primaries weren't as black as on a Montagu's, so I felt comfortable to put it out on our alarm system for birds as a Pallid. Shortly afterwards I saw two birders that was much closer to the bird, but were looking in the wrong direction, I called them up and told them to turn around and try to take some photos of the bird, witch they managed to do. Later I met up with them to look at the pictures, and when I saw them I got really confused, because on the pictures (that weren't great) it all of sudden looked more like a Hen Harrier. I hadn't even considered that it could be a Hen before that because it was so red and nothing I've seen in the jizz pointed towards that. I looked closer to the pictures and could actually see character for both Hen and Pallid.. could it be a hybrid?

Well I was at least sure now that this wasn't a pure Pallid Harrier, so I ones again put it out on the Bird Alarm and wrote that it could be a hybrid. I shortly afterwards received phone calls from some confused birders that had found the bird a bit away from were I saw it. They had exactly the same impression I first had, that it was a Pallid and couldn't see anything that pointed in any other direction.
I didn't see the bird more that day and decided to report it as an unsure hybrid between Pallid and Hen Harrier.
Luckily I found the bird again the next morning, and this time it was much closer. It stilled looked like a Pallid but now I could see that it actually had five fingers instead of four and that the hand was to broad for a pallid. Now I got some photos of the bird as well and I wasn't unsure any more. It's definitely a hybrid between Pallid and Hen harrier. First time this hybrid has been observed in this part of Sweden.

1. Broad white collar like a Pallid Harrier. 2. The dark neck and neck sides also is a good character for Pallid. 3. It has five obvious fingers like a Hen Harrier. 4. Reddish and unstreaked brest and belly typical for Pallid.

1. Very broad white band on the rump like a Hen. 2. Even from this angel you can se the Pallid head pattern.

1. Ones again the head and neck pattern as a Pallid. 2. Broad white band on the rump like a Hen. 3. You can see the long fifth finger even when the hand is closed like this.