The concept of “Plan B” is looming large — and ominously — over Hawaii these days. Most consequentially, it’s over Oahu’s rail project, which is some $3 billion over budget. The feds are demanding a Plan B from local officials, in case the funding mechanism for the overage doesn’t materialize.

Now, the Thirty Meter Telescope consortium has signed a Plan B deal for a Canary Islands backup site, in case its top choice of Mauna Kea can’t disentangle in time from legal, permitting and cultural snafus. Sigh.

A fairy tern is mightier than the contractor

That baby bird peering out from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser pages on Thursday is more powerful than anyone would suspect. White terns, a native species with federal and state protections, need time to hatch a chick and then get the baby to fly. Their presence is why an $8 million maintenance project at the Hawaii State Art Museum is on hold, maybe for a couple months. Also known as the “fairy tern,” the bird has a Hawaiian name, Manu-o-Ku — bird of the god of war. But it’s the peaceful appreciation of the snowy-feathered chicks that’s most persuasive. Cuteness counts.