told the San Francisco Chronicle in an interview it was unlikely the bird — which was originally identified as a duck but was later revealed to be a cormorant — survived the incident. The Bureau of Land Reclamation is the federal agency overseeing operations at the Glory Hole and nearby Monticello Dam. “From what I understand that water is going down really fast and when things come out the other side… I don’t want to get really graphic,” Ruff told the newspaper. “The chances do not look good for the ducky.” Water entering the Glory Hole travels straight down for 200 feet before emerging out to Putah Creek through an 8-foot pipe. It was not immediately clear how common it was for wildlife to get trapped in the Glory Hole.
This post has been updated to note the wildlife that fell into the spillway was a cormorant, a type of bird, and not a duck as originally reported. It turns out, misidentifying cormorants as ducks is a common occurrence. ]]>
