A Tropical Hitchhiker Just Stole The Chesapeake Bay Show
Maryland had an unexpected tropical visitor, and naturally it arrived with zero respect for personal boating space. During an afternoon trip on the Chesapeake Bay on June 21, 2026, Annapolis resident Tom Giancola watched a red-footed booby swoop toward his boat near Thomas Point Park, settle onto the bow and stay there for roughly an hour.
“This bird just swooped around us and landed right on the bow of our boat and hitched a ride with us,” Giancola told The Baltimore Sun. The passengers stared, took photos and apparently accepted that the fanciest creature aboard had invited itself.
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The red-footed booby is not a Maryland regular. It is a tropical seabird normally associated with open oceans and island breeding colonies across warmer parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The bird Giancola encountered appears to be an adult brown morph, one of several dramatically different color forms found within the species.
Even in brown, the bird still brings the accessories: large red webbed feet, a pale bluish bill and patches of rosy and blue facial skin. Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the species as the smallest member of the booby family, though “smallest” is doing some work here—the birds can reach roughly 31 inches in length with a wingspan near five feet.
The Chesapeake appearance is rare, but it is not Maryland’s first reported brush with the species. The Maryland Biodiversity Project lists a red-footed booby documented in Cecil County in August 2024 as the state’s first record, pending acceptance by the Maryland/District of Columbia Records Committee.
Red-footed boobies hunt by scanning the sea from above and dropping into swift plunge-dives when prey appears. They also chase flying fish and can snatch them in midair, which makes casually landing on a recreational boat feel less like confusion and more like a very stylish rest stop.
Watch A Red-Footed Booby At Half Moon Caye
This species video was filmed at Half Moon Caye and shows a red-footed booby in its tropical habitat; it is not footage of the Maryland boat encounter.
The family resemblance comes with very different footwear. The next clip features blue-footed boobies—not the red-footed Chesapeake visitor—and shows the exaggerated courtship dance that made their bright feet famous.
Meet The Blue-Footed Cousin’s Famous Courtship Dance
Nat Geo Animals captures blue-footed boobies lifting, displaying and parading their vivid feet during a courtship ritual in the Galápagos.
Source: The Baltimore Sun, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Maryland Biodiversity Project, and Nat Geo Animals.
