Golden Eaglet, Yukon, 1971

An office colleague discovered this nest just a few miles from Whitehorse while out fishing. When he told me about it, I immediately wanted to see if I could get some pictures. Now, we were both shift-working meteorologists and getting time off together was all but impossible. He had his teenage son take me to the nest the next day, a day off for me.

We clamored up to the nest and I took my pictures. My friend's son then handed me a camera saying to the effect, "Dad asked me if you would take some pictures for him too?"

Now, I had no idea that the fellow had any interest in photography. The camera that was proffered to me was not the simple camera I expected. It was a Leica rangefinder! This was the only time that I have ever actually used a Leica. I recall how quiet it was compared to my own SLR with its noisy mirror. It turns out that it had been purchased, at very reasonable cost, when my colleague was on a tour of duty in (then WEST) Germany. Back when he purchased the camera, the Canadian dollar was still a currency with value in the world.

Oh, yes. The parent birds: We saw only one circling in the far distance. It did not show any concern. I did not want to do anything to jeopardize the young bird so we did not wait for the parent to return. So unfortunately, no pictures of mom or dad.

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