Here's something you don't see every day, a swimming owl.
In late 2016 Derrick Zuk and some pals were hiking through a canyon in Lake Powell (between Utah and Arizona) and discovered this great horned owl as it started swimming in the water. Zuk waded behind the white bird to capture this rare footage.
While it looks rather beautiful, National Geographic reports that this behavior is a "last resort" for the bird:
In an email with National Geographic, Geoff LeBaron, the Christmas bird count director at the National Audubon Society, noted that the owl—which still has some of its nestling feathers—is likely a young great horned owl that has only just begun to explore the world beyond its nest."I suspect it actually fell out of the nest," said LeBaron. "In the West especially, great horned [owls] do nest on ledges on cliffs, often in raven or other birds' nests that they take over." He suspects the young owl could have also fallen out of its nest or faltered during an early test flight.
"This 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," LeBaron offered.
