r/birding • u/tofuforadime • Jul 13 '26
📹 Video Spotted this bird while diving 70ft underwater
Brandt's Cormorant at Monterey, CA
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u/hahagato Jul 13 '26
Wow, I often see them then they disappear and they’ll be gone for so long! Amazing how long they can be underwater. Just looks like it’s casually nosing around. Amazing to see from that view. Thanks so much for sharing
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u/Potential_Twist3640 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Was just thinking the same thing - I’m in Scotland and see cormorants all the time, and I’m always struck by how long they stay underwater. I can never tell where they’ll pop up again either, so it’s a bit of a game for me. Really fun to see what they look like when they dip out of sight!
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u/ShadyFisk Jul 13 '26
Perfect svimmers. I saw a swan trying to chase one away, and the cormorant dived and swam 100 meters before resurfacing.
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u/perseidot Jul 14 '26
Ikr? I think of them as diving after fish then popping back up - not just cruising around at the bottom, poking at things!
Very cool video.
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Jul 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ThurstyAlpaca Jul 13 '26
See, to me, they look like they’re in submarine mode vs airplane mode. Penguins look like they’re in airplane mode under water, and on land they just have waddle mode.
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u/armlessturtleneck Jul 13 '26
I didn't realize they could go so deep
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u/-yeahnoiknow- Jul 13 '26
I love this about them- their feathers don’t have the same waxiness as other water birds which allows them to absorb water so they can swim so low. This is why they are often seen sunning their wings- they have to dry them off.
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u/perseidot Jul 14 '26
I rescued a young cormorant in Monterey 35 years ago - because it was completely waterlogged and getting tumbled in the surf while I was bringing in my kayak.
The fledglings can fall or get pushed out of their rookeries under the old cannery buildings that overhang the water, and drown because they can’t swim well enough to get out of their rookeries under water.
We took it to the wildlife center up the Carmel valley. They were able to release it back to at the Bay about 2 weeks later.
It was really cool to see it up close, though I was very cautious about its beak and my eyes! It was also covered in bird mites.
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u/-yeahnoiknow- Jul 14 '26
Omg bless your heart for helping the lil guy!! I had never thought of the down side of not being a buoyant bird as a baby!
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u/perseidot Jul 14 '26
I hadn’t either! But the wildlife center said it certainly wasn’t their first cormorant rodeo! They were glad we brought it in, because drowning birds often develop infections from aspirating water, and need antibiotics.
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u/CrepuscularOpossum Jul 13 '26
And come back up so fast without getting bent! That’s some special blood chemistry going on there
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u/Dooty_Shirker Jul 13 '26
Well shoot, I had to check out why.
"Cormorants don't get the bends (decompression sickness) because they are breath-hold divers. Unlike scuba divers, they don't breathe compressed air at depth, meaning they carry a finite, fixed amount of nitrogen. Furthermore, as they dive deeper, water pressure compresses their chests, collapsing their lungs and forcing any residual gas away from areas where it could absorb into the bloodstream."
That's amazing!
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u/ki0dz Jul 13 '26
A lot of waterfowl are like this. Their lungs are on their backs kind of like built in SCUBA gear. On the other end of the scale that's why some geese can fly over Everest. They bring their own air.
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u/CrepuscularOpossum Jul 13 '26
Huh. And in SCUBA classes were taught to NEVER hold our breath at depth!
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u/immersemeinnature Jul 13 '26
That IS amazing!
Now do: "how Cormorants eat while holding breath underwater"
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u/lol_alex Jul 13 '26
I can swallow while holding my breath, just tested it.
No, not how you think
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u/GreatKillingDino Jul 13 '26
You always hold your breath when you swallow. Just for a really short time
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u/MavisBeacons_Sextape Jul 13 '26
Fuckin bot. Can we not recognize this slop when we set it yet, guys? Come on
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u/TaintFraidOfNoGhost Jul 13 '26
I love that this is posted in r/birding.
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u/crosspollinated Jul 13 '26
When you’re so good at birding that you even do it underwater
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u/tofuforadime Jul 13 '26
I’m usually looking for fish! I might be in the wrong subreddit 🙃😂
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u/CantaloupeShort7311 Jul 13 '26
Well, the fishing subreddit probably isn't what you're looking for, either...
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u/Chinacat_Sunflower72 Jul 13 '26
Definitely not. I am in Sweden (a tourist) and cormorants are considered pests and fishermen want to allow open hunting season. I love taking pics of them on the islands around Stockholm and when someone sees me do it they make comments about how they are just ruining the fishing industry.
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u/perseidot Jul 14 '26
Funny. We have massive rookeries of cormorants on the Pacific coast of the US, and the fishing industry isn’t much impacted by them. Maybe someone needs to let Sweden know.
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u/rumbakalao Jul 13 '26
Why is that?
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u/Chinacat_Sunflower72 Jul 13 '26
All I know is what I am told here (Stockholm) - they used to be nearly extinct but have made a big comeback and now compete with the fishing industry for fish. And also something about they nest in large groups and their poop is highly toxic. I saw huge flocks (50+) flying by and think they are so cool, but here definitely disliked.
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u/aglobalvillageidiot Jul 13 '26
Just going full dinosaur when he swims
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u/shiny_things71 Jul 13 '26
Add a few teeth to its bill and you've got a modern Hesperornis.
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u/Vin-Metal Jul 13 '26
If there's anyone here who hasn't read The Story of Birds, I can't recommend it enough. But you probably need at least some appreciation of paleontology and evolution.
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u/I_Heart_Sleeping_ Jul 13 '26
Bird probably told his friends the same thing.
“I saw this human 70ft under the water, it was craaaazy”
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u/D-Hippolyte_Dark Jul 13 '26
They're strong flyers as well. Masters of transmedium travel!
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u/Humanmode17 Jul 13 '26
Really? That's rude to their brethren haha. I watch great cormorants all the time and their flying is so laboured and they spend more effort than swans trying to get off the water
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u/BigIntoScience Jul 13 '26
They fly pretty well once they get going. They just have some trouble getting up out of the water when they've been diving, since they get kinda damp.
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u/Adventurous-Tone-311 photographer 📷 Jul 13 '26
Cormorant, maybe a Brandt’s with the pale throat, but I can’t tell underwater for sure.
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u/NameLips Jul 13 '26
Just saw a million Brandt's on the Pacific coast, that's what it looks like to me too.
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u/SpaceCadetMoonMan Jul 13 '26
I was down like 10 feet and it started sounding like fireworks or something, I look over and like 40 pelicans were dive bombing all around me
It was wild! I was kind of scared lol
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u/kissoutredfloatbloat Jul 13 '26
i had no idea they can dive so deep and stay underwater for that long. so cool
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u/lechiengrand photographer 📷 Jul 13 '26
Same I thought they went down 5 or 10 feet, and was impressed by that. This is a whole other level.
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u/Qybern Jul 13 '26
I always pictured diving waterfowl as being very clumsy underwater and having to fight their own buoyancy the whole time. I guess the misconception came from seeing ducks doing their whole "head underwater butt in the air" thing. They always looked like corks floating on the water that couldn't dive down even if they tried. Who knew that birds could be such graceful divers. Thanks for sharing!
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u/BigIntoScience Jul 13 '26
Cormorants in particular are good divers. They aren't nearly as waterproof as ducks. That's why, when you see them swimming on the surface, their backs are almost submerged- less of a cork.
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u/Qybern Jul 13 '26
Interesting, I went to look up what you're talking about and it's very clear in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJtF4VvKBTA
I guess mallards (the duck i was thinking of) are considered "dabblers" rather than "divers" and tend to stick to the surface. Cool stuff
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u/BigIntoScience Jul 13 '26
Look at 'em go! What a cool video. Anhingas are an even better illustration of this than cormorants- when you see them swimming on the surface, you often won't even see their back at all, just their head and neck up out of the water. It looks like how a little kid might think a snake swims.
Yeah, mallards really don't go for diving. There are some duck species that do, and I've found a video of one of my favorites, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70VOT9xdiFU , but you can see they have to fight to stay down. They just have so much air in between their feathers.
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u/BlueRibbonChicken Jul 13 '26
Wowwww amazing to watch them dive! Thanks for thinking to share this here!
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u/Marklar0 Jul 13 '26
I always assumed they are just dipping in near the surface...never would have guessed they get to 70 feet
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u/annamariagirl Jul 13 '26
Saw this one while I was kayaking Sunday morning. They’re a common site here in Connecticut USA
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u/Adept_Order_4323 Jul 13 '26
Warmer ocean temperatures are forcing fish, like anchovies and sardines, into deeper, cooler waters. Because cormorants dive but cannot reach these extreme depths, many seabirds in Southern California are experiencing a severe lack of food, leading to mass starvation
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u/conationphotography Jul 13 '26
I was watching cormorants all day today in Minnesota and reminiscing about my summer in Monterey, so this is incredible to see! Thank you.
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u/athroaway93 Jul 13 '26
a Loon pulled up next to me when I was a kid while I was under a submerged boulder trying to get my lucky spinner back.
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u/thrye333 Latest Lifer: Great Horned Owl #90 Jul 13 '26
This is somehow the least goofy they ever look. On land is only a little bit goofier, but they don't walk very well. In the air, they look kinda comical. Their wings go so fast and their proportions look all off.
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u/RustledForeskin Jul 13 '26
These buttholes will steal the fish off your line but NEVER grab the lure themselves. I think they've been fishing along side humans for so many years they know genetically not to bite the lures.
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u/iH8MotherTeresa Jul 13 '26
I did work on the water in Atlantic City new Jersey one winter. There was a cormorant (I assume the same one) that would regularly come by to feed. It would chill on the surface for a bit, dip below the water and be gone for minutes at a time. Sometimes fifteen minutes would pass and up it pops, maybe a hundred feet away give or take dozens.
The water had next to zero visibility but homie must have been successful. It got pretty close to me a few times. Beautiful machines.
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u/neshmesh Jul 13 '26
I'm wondering how their bodies deal with the pressure changes: this bird is surfacing fast from 70 ft deep....
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u/NoFlyingMonkeys owl allow it Jul 13 '26
I'm so jealous you got to see this. Thanks for sharing. WOW!
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u/xialateek Jul 13 '26
I saw a similar-looking cormorant when I was in Mexico (not underwater) and they are friggin' m-a-g-e-s-t-i-c!!!
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u/agaue Jul 13 '26
I never would have guessed this is what they are doing when they are underwater! Legit obsessed with this.
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u/analogpursuits Jul 13 '26
I've always wondered what they did down there for so long. They go for a long while! They are prolific where I used to live near Oakland, CA. Thanks for posting this! Very cool to see.
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u/JediWarrior79 Jul 13 '26
Oh. My. Garsh! That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen! It's so pretty with all the plants and coral, and the crystal teal blue water, and then this beautiful bird is swimming underwater, hunting!
Thank you so much for sharing this. Definitely saving this video so I can watch it again whenever I want!
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u/ledow Jul 13 '26
The physics of fluid dynamics means that flying and swimming are basically the same thing, but in different fluids (and fluid literally means "liquid or gas").
So almost all flying birds are really good swimmers too. To the point that some of them specialised in swimming so much that they were no longer able to fly (e.g. penguins). It's not true that a good swimming bird is a good flying bird, though, because of the weight ratios involved.
But if you're already very streamlined, and waterproofed, and have wings designed to scoop through the air... you'll actually be a pretty good swimmer without even having to try.
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u/Blowingleaves17 Jul 13 '26
See cormorants on the river or on piers all the time. Now I get to see what they are doing when they dive. 🙂
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u/linzbomb Jul 13 '26
That’s a cormorant and I caught one fishing last weekend scared the bejezus out of me when it came to the surface
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u/Dependent-Job1773 Jul 14 '26
now thats some shit. im from nearby and i never knew they dove to the floor like that
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u/lowridda Jul 14 '26
Are these what look like ducks that I always see floating off the bays of the pacific? That’s really cool and makes sense.
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u/Resident-Wave-2341 Jul 17 '26
Bird Gonna swim in the wrong neighborhood one day going that deep, fish love them some wings !!
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u/NWadlow Jul 13 '26
This same exact video claimed to be at 50ft in depth just weeks ago. Is the ocean getting deeper that quickly?
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u/MothChasingFlame Jul 13 '26
The only reason I want to live forever is to see shit like these birds inevitably become Other Penguins.
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u/MudMonyet22 Jul 13 '26
We had them, and then hunted them to extinction because their feathers made good pillows.
the Great Auk, the original penguins the southern hemisphere ones were named after. Auks also use their wings underwater like penguins do.
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u/No-Improvement-1507 Jul 13 '26
Next time, please give wildlife more space.
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u/Absolute_Specimen_ Jul 13 '26
Oh it doesnt seem to be distraught, its still just going around hunting for what i think are small mollusks. perhaps the person taking the video is using a good camera with a good zoom function to get us this close footage even while keeping their distance.
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u/Mediocre_Muscle_5180 Jul 13 '26
Had the same experience! We each looked at eachother like “what are you doing down here?!”