Synchronised diving

I watched two drake Goosanders as they dived for food today. As soon as one dived, the other followed suit and they did this repeatedly, it was lovely to watch. Here is a distant clip.

 I then remembered a line of five fishing female Goosanders last year in a Swiss lake, swimming and diving in an orderly line along the shallows. They were behaving as if they were fishing cooperatively: by rounding up fish they would increase each of the individuals success rate. This cooperative fishing has also been observed in Cormorants and in the close relative of the Goosander, the Red-breasted Merganser.

The five female Goosanders fishing in a line, the individual at the far end peers under the water.

More information
Des Lauriers, J. R., & Brattstrom, B. H. (1965) Cooperative feeding behavior in Red-breasted Mergansers. The Auk, 639-639.