Extremely rare bird with a delightfully quirky name is spotted in popular bay… THOUSANDS of miles away from its usual habitat
A seldom-seen bird was spotted off the coast of Maryland in an extremely rare sighting thousands of miles away from where it is typically found.
The red-footed booby was spotted by Tom Giancola, of Annapolis, as he was boating in Chesapeake Bay on June 21. The seabird is typically spotted in the Caribbean.
‘This bird just swooped around us and landed right on the bow of our boat and hitched a ride with us,’ he told The Baltimore Sun.
‘It was unusual because I’ve never seen a bird land on a boat and just hang out like that.’
The bird may have been tired from its travels to Maryland, as the closest country a booby typically resides in is Cuba, which is 1,250 miles away.
Giancola and his passengers admired the bird for an hour and snapped photographs before it took off again.
He later sent the photos to his friends, where Anna Arundel, a science teacher, identified the bird as a red-footed booby, saying it was really rare to see one.
Others in Chesapeake Bay also spotted the bird, as an additional photo of the animal popped up in a bird watching Facebook group on June 28.
Bird watchers in Maryland were stunned to catch a glimpse of a rare red-footed booby
It was a rare spotting as the bird is typically found in the Caribbean, which is more than 1,200 miles from Maryland
The bird has also been spotted a few other times along the East Coast since 2021, including in New York, Massachusetts, and Maine, according to All About Birds.
It has also been spotted along the West and Southern coasts, but mainly in Mexico, Central America, and the Northern part of South America.
The bird can appear in both light and dark colors, with its tell-tale sign being its bright red feet.
The birds can reach the size of geese, according to All About Birds.
Red-footed boobies prey on fish and squid, and they typically stay near schools of fish to help locate their next meal.
There is an estimated 1.4 million red-footed boobies worldwide, according to All About Birds.
Maryland has been seeing more species from warmer places in the summertime, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Maryland scientist, Gussie Maguire, told The Baltimore Sun.
‘It’s pretty wild to see this, but it isn’t a one-off,’ Maguire told the outlet.
The bird was spotted on June 21 in Chesapeake Bay to the delight of nearby boaters who said the creature hung around for about an hour
The closest place to Maryland that the bird is typically spotted in is Cuba
The bird has been spotted a few times on the East Coast since 2021 as shown by the purple dots, including Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine
‘Climate change and warming air and water temperatures are having a notable impact on different species’ ranges, including some we may not be so excited to see, like certain types of harmful algae.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Giancola for comment.
