A live bird is probably the last thing researchers in a submarine expected to see as they ascended from a depth of 300 feet in California’s Monterey Bay. But see one they did, and, as you might expect, their reaction was one of amazement.

The “Aqua Geeks,” as they’re called in the YouTube video’s description, passed the deep diving bird at 150-feet under water after they had been conducting tests on equipment built by California State University-Monterey Bay students and professors in Marine Robotics class.

California State University Monterey Bay Researchers Spot Deep Diving Bird While in Submarine, Giddiness Ensues

The fainter gray object at the top of the screen is a bird. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

The video taken by professor Steve Moore shows the submarine rising the water and the bird is but a flash, but the reaction of Moore (a.k.a. the “ecstatic diving bird spotter”) and his colleagues is entertaining.

As the YouTube video states, watch as “giddiness ensues”:

“Wow, very cool. We just saw a bird that dove down to 150 feet,” one of the researchers says in the video. “We actually passed it on the way up.”

As the video continues, the researchers start identifying more regular marine life they’re passing.

The research being conducted was part of the OceanGate Foundation. According to the foundation’s website, this was part of a series of dives on the submarine “Antipodes” to the Art Riedel, Sr. shipwreck studying marine life.

(H/T: io9)