This was thought because some species do not dive deeper than a metre . However , this theory was not true because some species have a mean diving depth of almost 5 m and can dive as deep as 12.5 m. They have now been seen to eat from the surface and diving , and sometimes also plunge from the air to snatch their prey . The deployment of capillary depth recorders , which record the maximum dive depth undertaken by a bird ( between attaching it to a bird and recovering it when it returns to land ) , has shown that while some species , like the Wandering Albatross , do not dive deeper than a metre , some species , like the Light-mantled Albatross , have a mean diving depth of almost 5 m and can dive as deep as 12.5 m. In addition to surface feeding and diving , they have now also been observed plunge diving from the air to snatch prey .