UPDATE: Witness Says Bird That Fell Into The Lake Berryessa Drain Survived The Drop

LAKE BERRYESSA (CBS13) — People all over the world are talking about the video showing a bird getting swallowed by the massive drain at Lake Berryessa.

CBS13 caught up with the county worker who shot the video. He said the story has a happy ending which he saw with his very own eyes.

Looking at the bell-mouth spillway, it does not seem possible that a bird could fall into it and survive. Rick Fowler, a technician with the Solano County Water Agency, says he saw it happen.

"I was videoing it and the bird floated into the picture and down the hole," Fowler said.

It turns out that the bird was not a duck, but a cormorant. Fowler said after he saw the bird go down the drain he ran to the other end and saw it shoot out the other end of the spillway.

"After a minute it flew, flew and landed down the creek shaking its head," Fowler said. "It was coming to its senses. It got shot out relatively quick."

Others have expressed their doubts, but Fowler says he's sure the waterfowl survived the two-hundred-foot fall.

Several cormorants were hanging out at Lake Berryessa Thursday, but there's no way of telling if the internet star was among them.