female Marsh Harrier moult

amazing how quickly the fledged Marsh Harrier juvs disperse and the adults go into moult and become harder to see -- interesting wing moult on this female -- the upper female with the juv is what I call a rufous morph -- still not seen this really described but distinctly rusty plumage with no real cream crown or throat and plumage maintained through adult stages with no difference year on year -- this old female arrived back on the local patch in late April with a pair of young birds already on her territory -- an adult male then returned and the eventual outcome was the young male was ousted and paired to both this female and the younger female -- the latter reared three young and this female two young, last year she only fledged one as a beta female again --