On our trip to Northern Utah, we stayed in a community named Wolf Creek in the town of Eden, close to the Pineview Reservoir.
http://www.utah.com/ogden/pineview.htm Eden is one of three small communities comprising what is known as Ogden Valley. The other two towns in the valley are Huntsville and Liberty. We were in Huntsville one day shooting some local color when we were approached by Gary Probasco. He invited us to shoot the Osprey couple that had made a nest on his Osprey platform. Didn't have to twist our arms for this chance to shoot Osprey up close! Unfortunately it was a very overcast day providing lousy shooting conditions. But we really enjoyed hanging out in Gary's yard with the Ospreys, the beautiful view of Pineview below with the snow covered mountains above, and the lovely surroundings of this area of Huntsville.
Huntsville is located twelve miles east of Ogden City, up Ogden Canyon. Its elevation is just under 5,000 feet.
http://huntsvilletown.com/history-town.html Huntsville was settled in 1860. Gary's parents moved to Huntsville in 1957, and later bought the house across the street, in which Gary and his family live. Gary put up the Osprey pole and platform in 2007. It sat vacant since its installation. Last year Gary modified the platform by adding wire decking giving the Osprey something to anchor their nest to. Now, finally after 5 years of waiting, Gary has a resident Osprey couple! They built their nest about 10 days before we photographed them. We were concerned about making them feel uncomfortable if we hung out too close for too long, however, a recent update is that the couple is very comfortable in their new home, even when a lawn mower is right below them.
After we left the Ospreys we drove around Huntsville shooting some landscape shots. As the day was ending, and we were heading back to Wolf Creek, right above our car flew one of the Ospreys carrying a tree branch with leaves. He was heading toward us, then right over our car less than 10 feet above, heading back to Gary's to add the branch to the nest. That was a very cool sight to see the Osprey flying straight at us, and that close.
So here's to the Ospreys, long may they live and nest in Gary's yard! :-)