Cormorants are fascinating birds. They are excellent swimmers and fishers, but clumsy like a penguin on land. Their feathers are not waterproof, so they have to spend most of their day air-drying with their wings stretched out. But when dry (and on land), they have an elegant, upright posture which makes them a great photo object. And Tromsø has heaps of them.

Normally, cormorants like to sit on poles or rocks in the water (away from people, I guess). So when L-Jay, Lilu and I went down to our favourite jetty one evening to shoot some kayakers*, I was delighted to see this one bird standing on the far end. I couldn’t resist the photo op, so I started moving closer to get a better framing. L-Jay and Lilu must have had a laugh as I snuck up on the little fella with every infantry stealth technique I had ever learnt. First walking, then crouching, then crawling and finally on my belly – pulling myself forward inch by inch whilst holding the camera in one hand and firing away. The cormorant, perfectly aware of my presence, must also have been thinking to itself ‘what is this Wally doing??’. Unfortunately, before I could get close enough to take a silhouette shot against the red evening sky, the bird got bored with this modelling gig and flew off. Doh! But I got a few good shots anyway, this one is my favourite:

*with a camera, silly!