Western Red-Tailed Hawk - Antelope Island

I've had two previous posts with nice photos of western red-tailed hawks: one in February 2017 with a hawk seen in Organ Pipe Cactus NM (Arizona); and the other in April 2017 in Gran Desierto Biosphere Reserve in Sonora, Mexico. 

I just got some great photos of a western red-tailed hawk on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake (Utah). It was standing on a branch and allowed me to get relatively close before flying. It was much darker than the red-tailed hawks I've previously photographed. And there is something about the winter terrain on Antelope Island that I love, the variety of brown colors inter-mixed with water and mud and the backdrop of the Wasatch Front. 

The hawk as I first saw it.

Preparing for flight.

Leaping into the air from the branch.

Amazing underwings.

The name-sake red tail.

This reminds me of a hover-craft. 

One of my favorite photos: varying shades of blue signifying the lake, the mudflats, the Wasatch Front and the dark outline of the hawk in the midst of it all.