The year 2020 produced many poignant, moving and powerful photographs.
But one image documenting two Australian penguins, each bereaved, consoling each other was awarded the Oceanographic prize for ocean photography by Oceanographic magazine.
The photo was taken in Melbourne by Tobias Baumgaertner.
He was told that two penguins had recently lost their respective mates, and that they often did what seemed to be a good job of comforting each other.
The German photographer won the magazine’s Community Choice Award.
St. Kilda Pier in Melbourne, Australia, is home to about 1,400 fairy penguins. These are the smallest of the penguins, averaging only about 33 cm (13 inches) in height. The territory is monitored by volunteers.
“A volunteer contacted me and told me that the white one was an older female penguin that had lost her mate, and the younger male on the left seemed to be as well,” Baumgärtner wrote on Instagram.
“After that, the animals met regularly to comfort each other and then stood together for many hours, watching the lights of the nearby city bounce together. “
The photographer said he spent three nights in this penguin territory before finally snapping the photo.
“It was really hard to get a shot when you can’t or aren’t allowed to use a flash and these little penguins were moving all the time, using their flipper limbs to rub on each other’s backs all the time and help clean each other,” he said.
“But I was lucky enough to capture this wonderful moment. “
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