He was seen about noon shepherding the young cormorant down Wansbeck St, before being joined by Bronwyn Judge with a yellow plastic rubbish bag, which made keeping the sea bird on track a lot easier.
Driving home for lunch, Mr Perkins saw the cormorant in Wharfe St, about 500m from the sea, looking disoriented.
''He was outside a house for sale so he looked like he was after some local real estate,'' he joked, but was worried the bird could get hit by a car.
After pulling up, Mr Perkins went back and began guiding the bird, which seemed content to be shepherded along Wharfe St and down Wansbeck St, but at his own slow pace.
At the bottom of Wansbeck St, when Mrs Judge joined with the rubbish bag to act as a screen, the pace picked up.
It took about 45 minutes to get the cormorant to Friendly Bay, where it dived into the water.
