$8M maintenance job delayed so tern can hatch, learn to fly

One good tern (or two) deserves another species’ protective wing.

Humans with the state will provide a pair of white terns — threatened tropical seabirds — the protection they need while waiting for their egg to hatch at the Hawaii State Art Museum and for their chick to fledge.

After consulting with the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), the Department of Accounting and General Services will hold off on an $8 million maintenance project for the No. 1 Capitol District Building, which houses the museum.

The DAGS project includes termite fumigation, railing replacement, painting and tile work.

The mother tern, who laid her egg directly on a wrought iron railing (the birds usually lay their eggs on a tree branch without a nest) on the third-floor balcony of the museum, and the father tern take turns sitting on the egg.

Jason Misaki, an expert on seabirds with DOFAW, said typically for seabirds it takes from 40 to 60 days from the time an egg is laid to the time the fledgling can independently fly.

The terns will return to sea once the chick fledges, Misaki said.

The white tern, designated some years ago as the City and County of Honolulu’s official bird, is not endemic to Oahu, but is threatened and is quite urbanized, Misaki said.

He said he was consulted about the white terns.

He said stopping the project is the “best case scenario for the bird.”

“It’s a good thing that they’re doing that,” Misaki said. “But we would be willing to look at alternatives. There’s always ways to work with the building managers and the staff.”

The birds nesting in a very urbanized corridor is not alarming or new, because they have adapted to these situations. “The population is increasing, and there are a lot more around,” he said.