This Owl May Swim Like Michael Phelps But We Doubt It’s Going to Take the Gold

If you look quickly, you might mistake this swimming owl for a seabird. In fact, owls are not natural in water and rarely swim, which makes this footage by owlsanity even more fascinating. Owls are capable of many things, but swimming laps isn’t one of them. This owl may give Michael Phelps a run for his money, but swimming isn’t an owl’s strong suit when it comes to the gold.

Owls Only Hit the Water for a Handful of Reasons

Owls can swim, but it’s not something that happens often. They prefer to be in the air or safely guarding their nests. The closest an owl willingly gets to a large body of water is during a hunting pursuit. Even then, they rarely dive deep enough to require swimming to shore. The video above shows a very rare circumstance for a great horned owl.

The only times an owl will go near water:

• When hunting marine life
• During a bath or if it needs to wash its feathers
• To drink water

An owl’s feathers are not waterproof, so being in the water hinders them. It also leaves them vulnerable to attacks since they cannot fly until their wings dry. When wet, their wings weigh them down, leaving them susceptible to other predators like peregrines.

This Owl Was Under Attack

This owl, which went viral during its midday dip, was fleeing from a predator. The video’s backstory explains the owl may have attempted to take over a falcon nest. Great horned owls don’t build their own nests, so they often scavenge nests from other big birds. This attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, with the peregrine falcons chasing the owl into Lake Michigan.

The owl was forced into the water as a last-ditch attempt at survival. In this video, it can be seen swimming to shore, where it was forced to wait until its feathers were dry. The video’s owner, Steve Spritzer, remained on the beach until the remaining falcons flew away from the owl. The bird would have been severely disadvantaged, given its inability to fly with sopping wet wings.

Footage of a snowy owl appearing to do the same thing circulated in 2020. This owl was also swimming in a Michigan lake, and it’s believed the owl was in a similar situation. Swimming is not natural for owls, but it’s a last resort to avoid being prey. This snowy owl likely ended up in the water after a failed hunting attempt, leaving it to swim to shore. Since swimming is so unnatural, owls flap their wings in the water as they would in the air. This motion propels them forward but makes for a long swim back to shore.