Our last day on the beach found me as an ornithologist, helping explain the plight of a Great Northern Diver (loon) who found himself washed ashore.

The loon was given its name due to its waddle and crawl when on land. The loon’s legs are made for swimming and diving and are set so far toward their backs that it makes walking on land nearly impossible. They tend to push themselves up and flop on their belly. People thought this was loony, and it is!

The Great Northern Diver is so named not for a flying dive, like our local pelican in North Carolina, but for its swimming and sudden diving to find fish. They can dive 200 feet and often eat their prey while underwater. Loons let themselves wash ashore and then crawl up to the dry beach to preen and rest. Some say only sick birds do this, but it is very common to all loons. Sometimes they stay for an hour or two, other times as long as a couple days. Last year we had one on the beach for two days before it returned to the sea.

It was my job to educate the beach walkers who thought the bird was injured due to its loony way of walking and crawling on the beach. I, too, thought the same thing last year when I first encountered the loon’s behavior and called the town of Kitty Hawk. They assured me this was normal behavior and the loon would return with the tide.

This loon was doing a lot of cleaning and it made me wonder if he had some parasites. In the sand I wrote, “I am a Loon, I am fine” —  I still had to explain to many a beachcomber. In an hour he returned to the sea and made his way south.

Now I am back in the saddle at the Global Business Travel Association conference in Boston. I hope to report on a great deal of new findings in the travel industry upon my return.

— Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO