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. 

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. 

'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.