Bird gets sucked into California 'glory hole'

The man who filmed the footage insists the bird survived.

VIDEOS: Above: Footage of the 'glory hole. Keep scrolling for footage of the bird.

There's some debate about the fate of a cormorant that was sucked into a California 'glory hole' this week in California's Napa region.

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The video was posted on social media by Tori Fowler but it was filmed by her brother Rick, who works as a water resources technician with the Solano County Water Agency.

Rick insists the bird survived the 18-storey drop, despite intense water pressure.

“It shot out of there like a bullet,” he told ABC10. “It flew through the turbulence and came out of the water shaking water like it didn’t [know] what had happened.”

But Brionna Ruff, a spokesperson for the agency that owns the spillway, says it's unlikely the bird survived.

ABC10 says the cement drain has a diametre of about 22 metres and drops about 135 metres before filtering out through the bottom.

VIDEO: MAN NARROWLY ESCAPES SINKHOLE AS IT SWALLOWS CAR