Although a year most of us would rather prefer to forget, 2020 had its heartwarming moments, too. And many of them have been captured on camera. However, a photo of two windowed penguins comforting each other in Melbourne takes the credit for of the best shots of the last year. The romantic snap won the Community Choice Award at Oceanographic magazine’s Ocean Photograph Awards 2020.
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The photo was taken by German wildlife photographer Tobias Baumgaertner at St Kilda Pier in Melbourne, Australia. It shows two penguins comforting each other, after they both lost their partners. The talented photographer captured them as they were sharing a tender moment under “the dancing lights” of Melbourne.
“A volunteer approached me and told me that the white one was an elderly lady who had lost her partner and apparently so did the younger male to the left,” Baumgaertner wrote on Instagram. “Since then they meet regularly, comforting each other and standing together for hours watching the dancing lights of the nearby city.”
Even the touching photo was taken back in 2019, it went viral last year after a tweet. It melted hearts and lifted the spirit of millions.
couldn’t stop thinking about these penguins enjoying the Melbourne skyline together so i found the original photographer and apparently they’re BOTH WIDOWED i can’t handle it pic.twitter.com/gGgPVcOn9G
— matt (@dogfather) April 19, 2020
“I posted this image of these two Fairy penguins a little more than half a year ago and since then it has circled the globe, it has been seen by millions, and I have received thousands of messages and comments of how these two little guys have touched and mended broken hearts, brought joy, hope and love into your lives,” Baumgaertner wrote on Instagram. “It has become a symbol of togetherness and love. Times are still not easy for many of us, [so] I repeat what I wrote back then. During times like this, the truly lucky ones are those that can be with the person/people they love most.”
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Baumgaertner spent more than a couple of days with the Fairy penguin colony in St. Kilda, in his attempt to get a perfect shot. “The way that these two lovebirds were caring for one another stood out from the entire colony,” he said. “While all the other penguins were sleeping or running around, those two seemed to just stand there and enjoy every second they had together, holding each other in their flippers.”