THAT BIRDS LOVE THE FREEDOM OF FLYING, IN MY OPINION, IS A GIVEN. BUT FEW SEEM TO BYE WALKING ON AIR QUITE LIKE THIS FULMAR RECENTLY CAUGHT ON FILM.

Recently, while on a wildlife cruise around the island of Stroma, off the Scottish coast, photographer Karen Munro had an encounter, quite by accident, with the happiest sea bird on the planet!

Karen had no idea she had captured the perfect shot of a bird in bliss until later.

“On arrival home, I was going through my photos, most of which weren’t anything special as the light had been pretty poor that day,” Munro said. “However I did have a laugh as soon as I saw this one, as the fulmar looks like he is smiling and having fun.”

It almost seemed as though the bird was in the midst of a state of complete euphoria – or modeling an ad for expensive bird shampoo.

But while the fulmar does indeed appear to be pretty darn pleased, some added context from Munro helps explain the pose she captured. Either way, though, the bird is still spreading good vibes.

“Fulmars will often glide alongside the boat, but this one had just lifted off the sea and was shaking itself to dry off whilst flying,” she said. “It’s always great to capture something different. Over the last few days, I have had many people commenting on the ‘Happy Bird Photo’ and how it made them smile.

It’s not hard to imagine, however, that seeing their carefree counterpart had other, less cheery fulmars feeling …

… just a little envious.