Last Meal

I had been photographing an eagle's nest for about 5 months near the Tanana River in Fairbanks Alaska. From the time the two adult eagles arrived in April until the two adults and their two grown sub-adult babies flew away in September, I was at their nest almost every day. Early in the eaglet's life, the parents would feed food to their off-spring, then after a month or so, they would simply drop off food to their young and fly to a branch. The two eaglets would feed on their own. There was a dominant chick, and for a while, I thought the timid eaglet would not make it. The eaglets had fledged in mid August, and late in August, the female adult flew to the nest with a fish. To my surprise, she stayed, broke the fish into small bites, and fed her two chicks. It was a special moment, and I could tell, a tender moment for the three eagles. This was to be the last day that I would see the adult eagles anywhere near the nest. The two sub-adult eagles would hang around for another week to ten days, then they two left the nest. I often wonder if these four eagles are alive and well.
Canon 20d, Sigma 300mm 2.8 lens with a Sigma 1.4x extender, Bogen Tripod and head.