Derrick Zuk and his friends witnessed something rare in May 2016 while hiking through a canyon in Lake Powell between Utah and Arizona in the United States - an owl swimming and the video that he captured of the bird is a hit on social media.
Zuk’s video of the bobbing owl was posted by the National Geographic on Tuesday and shows the owl swimming beautifully through the lake.
The owl, which has been identified as a ‘Great Horned Owl’, reaches the surface and then dries up its feathers. It adopted a swimming pattern that was almost similar to a human breaststroke.
Viewers are buzzing with curiosity to know about the rare ability of an owl to swim. Ornithologists said owls are capable of swimming in conditions where they have no other means to resort.
Geoff LeBaron, a Christmas bird count director at the National Audubon Society, told the National Geographic in an email, the owl still embodied the nestling feathers and in all probability, it had just begun exploring the world beyond its nest.
He suggested the young owl could have either fallen out of its nest or faltered during an early test flight.
{{/usCountry}}He suggested the young owl could have either fallen out of its nest or faltered during an early test flight.
{{/usCountry}}“I suspect it actually fell out of the nest. The bird is young enough that the parents were probably still caring for it, so hopefully once the folks go by, the bird dried off and its parents found it,” said LeBaron.
The video on YouTube, which has gathered around 2,94,749 views till now, has left the audience delighted.
One user even expressed his love for the nestling and said, “Owls are such beautiful birds, very underrated.”