It’s official: the Common Tern is Hoboken’s honorary bird!

On July 10th, 2024, the Hoboken City Council voted to recognize this terrific, tenacious creature. Our Tern is grateful to Councilwomen Emily Jabbour and Tiffanie Fisher for putting forth this resolution, and we are thankful to the Council for acknowledging and passing this important step.

Hoboken now joins other cities like Honolulu and Chicago in that we have adopted a bird and proclaimed to our citizens, and to the world, that we value sustainability and we protect the precious biodiversity living on our shores.

We want to take this moment to invite everyone to do 2 things:

First, join our cause to protect Our Tern. Take a moment to join our mailing list so that you can watch our journey unfold in the coming months and get updates. We have big plans, and we want you to be a part of them.

Second, we also invite you to step outside. Head out to the 12th Street Pier (if you have a pair of binoculars or a camera, bring those too), and take some time to watch these amazing birds in their natural habitat. Now is an especially great time to see them, as multiple chicks have recently hatched, with more on the way. We think you’ll be as captivated by them as we are.  (And you can always reach out to us on social media or email: we’d be happy to show you Our Terns.) Here are details on where to see Our Terns.

Below you can read our statement, which we read at last night’s historic council meeting:

I want to tell you about a little city.  A coastal urban environment with a vibrant nightlife, numerous restaurants, robust public transportation, a great deal of tourists, an adopted tern, and breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.

I am talking of course about Honolulu, HI, another H.O. city halfway around the world. I, along with my colleague, recently met with Rich, a representative from Hui-Manu-O-Ku, an organization composed of conservationists and citizens all devoted to the white tern, the official bird of honolulu. Rich told us that since the adoption of their bird, Honolulu has experienced a joyful rise in public awareness regarding the issue of sustainability.  Educational programs and campaigns informing people about the terns, their significance, and the need to protect them have fostered citizens to act as stewards of the nature around them.   The community has focused its effort on restoring and protecting habitats, and numerous research initiatives led by citizen scientists have helped officials target other areas of concern in their efforts to follow through with their goals of being a sustainable city.  The city has become an attraction for birdwatchers and tourists, who visit in order to glimpse these beautiful creatures in a unique environment.  Local artists have been inspired to create murals, sculptures, and other mediums that celebrate the bird and raise awareness about conservation.  

Rich impressed upon us how the act of designating the white tern’s official status created the space that set these powerful and positive changes in motion.  

I am so grateful to Councilwomen Emily Jabbour and Tiffanie Fisher for putting forward this resolution.  I am proud of our council for the symbolic step that I hope you are about to take, and I am so excited for my city, our city, to recognize the Common Tern as the official Hoboken Bird.

I do want to take a  moment to address some concerns that I have heard about this resolution. There are some misunderstandings out there that I would like to clarify.

First, some have suggested that this bird defecates on people.  My initial response to this comes from my daughter, who when I told her about this criticism of our bird enthusiastically held up her copy of Everybody Poops as a reminder that, indeed, all living creatures poop.

Second, it has been suggested that these birds are aggressive and peck and dive at people’s heads, similar to the villains in Hitchcock’s films.  To date, I have taken trips with countless citizens, children, the elderly, some of you, and no one has been attacked or defecated upon.  Now, let me say that I would not recommend nor advocate for anyone to go out into the midst of a breeding colony. Just as we would not allow a stranger to walk into our home and interfere with our young, these birds protect and care for theirs.  But these birds do not nest in trees or the eaves of buildings like other birds in our community, and they do not pose a danger to our citizens.  They generally stay out over the water, and prefer to keep away from people.

Third, and perhaps most significantly, the argument has been made that groups of these birds will grow to epic proportions and disturb the families attempting to enjoy our city’s waterfront.  Our Tern, the organization we have created to support Hoboken’s Tern population, began because these birds chose an empty pier that had fallen into disrepair, far from Hobokenites, to establish their nesting site. They’ve been here for a decade, but most people did not know that these birds were present, and the birds continued to flock to that one site.  It wasn’t until the owner of the pier installed netting that some of the birds were forced to look for other areas on which to nest. But the point is that the terns want to be far from people because they want their nests to be safe, and the concern about them overrunning our neighborhoods is unfounded. 

The resolution before you is the first step in what we hope will be the process of helping our colony to move even further away from people – ideally onto a floating dock designed to accommodate these birds, which has been done successfully in other places.  We appreciate the priorities of landowners and businesses and how the presence of nesting terns in their spaces might impact their day-to-day necessities, which is why we want to help support them by safely ushering these birds to a space where they and everyone on the waterfront can thrive.  As always, we welcome their collaboration.

I have explored nature all over the world, but exploring and discovering nature, and sharing it with others in Hoboken has become my true love.  Many of you have shared that love with me in person.  And for those who haven’t yet, I invite you to contact me so you can come and visit Our Terns.

“Mr. Train, what’s your favorite bird?”  It’s a question that pops up at every walk I lead.  And my typical answer has been, “whichever bird I see ‘now,’ at this moment.’  But the past few months have changed my mind.  This spectacular aerial flyer, this devoted avian parent, this tenacious, patient bird has inspired me.  The Tern has reminded me that we have a duty to protect the life around us.  Hoboken has devoted itself to sustainability because it has to.  That river that lines our streets, homes, and parks is not getting any lower.  The changing climate demands that we live in harmony with nature.  This bird has returned to our shores in the midst of our efforts, a sign that the Hudson River is healing as we prioritize resiliency.  As such, it has become the perfect symbol for our spirit, our goals, and our community. 

I urge you to support this resolution. Thank you.